#why couldn't it have been a nice lizard

[justanotherninjagoblog12]

Finding them after the merge

Gender neutral reader

Some are longer than others

Also, Jay remembers you but you're the only one he remembers

One more thing Cole, Lloyd and Zane will be a separate part because I'm writing this late at night and can't come up with anything for them right now

Characters included in this Jay, Y/n, Nya and Kai

Kai

You were making your way back to Ninjago when you happened to pass by some mountains on the way back to Ninjago. When you heard a commotion. It sounded like fighting and you were going to ignore it that was until you heard a voice yell " BRING IT ON YOU OVER GROWN LIZARDS!" You froze in your tracks you knew that voice anywhere it was the voice of your fiery hothead boyfriend. " Welp I guess Ninjago will just have to wait. " You muttered before going towards the voice. Only to be stopped by muddy rocky creatures when you got close to Kai's voice . " Who go's there?" One of the creatures asked pointing it's sphere at you. You raised your hands up in surrender. " I mean no harm I just thought I heard someone I know over here. " You replied. " There are none of your kind here leave." One of the creatures replied and you turned to leave. That is until you saw something out of the corner of your eye a male with spiky hair showing off to some of the creatures. You took off running towards the male with the creatures chasing you the male turned around just in time to see the commotion and get tackled into a hug by you. " KAI IT'S REALLY YOU I WAS STARTING TO LOSE HOPE I'D SEE YOU AGAIN!" You yelled a little bit to loudly while hugging him. Kai stood there in shock for a few seconds before hugging you back. " Y/n is that really you?" Kai asked. " Yes porcupine, it's really me." You replied . " Hey what did I say about calling me a porcupine?" Kai asked pretending to be hurt you rolled your eyes and kissed him he kissed back. Kai then explained to the craglings the name of the creatures how you weren't a threat .

Nya

You didn't find her she found you while looking for the dragon cores. You had been staying with Arrakore a djinn, which with what happened with Nadakhan probably wasn't the best idea. Arrakore had found you injured and unconscious and took you in. You of course were very weary and didn't trust him at all at first but over time the two of you eventually gained each other's trust. You laugh as a dragon ran up to Arrakore. " An old friend of yours Arrakore?" You asked between laughter. " I don't know why I keep you around. " Arrakore replied looking at you. " Because your lonely and secretly enjoy the company. " You replied smirking. A young girl probably somewhere in her teens came into the cave followed by a baby dragon and a woman. The woman was wearing a light blue ninja gi and a light blue mask. You and the woman had a few awkward moments of eye contact before she pulled down her mask " Y/n?" The woman asked. " Nya? NYA!" You exclaimed happily running over to her. Nya punched . " That's for scaring me when I couldn't find you. " Nya said then pulled you into a kiss. " That's for everything else. " She finished. " So are you going to introduce us?" The teen girl asked. " Oh right Sora this is my partner Y/n. Y/n this is Sora. " Nya said. " Nice to meet you kid." You said smiling at Sora.

Jay

You wandered down the halls of the building it was so big and you, Lloyd and Arin had all gotten separated. You hoped one of them had found the dragon core you three had come for. You were muttering to yourself as you continued to wander the halls not really paying attention to where you were going when you bumped into someone's back. " Hey watch where you're.........Jay?" You asked as the male turned around he wasn't wearing his blue ninja gi instead he was wearing a black suit and dark blue tie. " can I help yo...... Y/n?" Jay asked as his eyes met yours. Jay could see the hesitate in your eyes he smiled softly and encouragingly as he opened his arms. He still had the same smile the smile you had missed the past few years. The smile that made your heart race it was him it was your Jay. " Jay....." You said crying happy tears as you walked into his arms. " I missed you so much my love. " You said crying tears of joy and Jay leaned down and kissed your temple softly. " Not a day went bye that I didn't think about you. " Jay muttered to you. " That's cheesy Walker you're a dork." You muttered still hugging him. " Yeah but I'm your dork." Jay replied. " That you are Jay that you are. " You replied happy to have your soul mate back.

[stinkysam]

Peter Parker - Did you know I love lizards ?

Warning : none

Genre : fluff

Synopsis : The reader has powers like the lizard because he took a more advance version of the serum that made the lizard what he was and now at will he can transform into his lizard state. So after the reader takes the serum he started to help around the city and Spiderman starts to investigate and finds out that this new hero is his boyfriend who was diagnosed with cancer and the reader had to take the serum or die

Reader : male (you/his)

A/N : part TWO

He came home earlier. Again.

It was weird.

This is not something that happens a lot and especially not multiple times in a row. At least not since he picked up the spider suit.

At first he was happy about it. Somehow New York city was being nice and had decided to give him some peace.

It allowed him to spend more time with you, his boyfriend.

He wouldn't have questioned it if his boyfriend hadn't been acting weird lately.

Despite your cancer, you never let it get the best of you, even during the hardest time. But this was something else.

You were hiding something, he could feel it. Sense it.

So he decided to follow you one day, to stalk you ; and you turned out to be pretty difficult to follow. Multiple times he lost you only to find you back later at a totally normal place. Nothing out of the ordinary except from these disappearances.

Which was weird as well because how could you escape him like that, so easily without even being aware you were being watched. Or so he thought.

Then, something caught his attention. Another "hero" appeared. It's what he heard in a conversation between two police officers. 

Hero or, as the police call it, "another criminal / madman / monster" wait what.

"Monster" ?

Peter wondered why they would call someone a monster, what did he do to be called such a thing ? Nothing, he found later at home. This "monster" did the same as him, handing criminals to the police. You were the one to tell him that.

Yet you couldn't explain the "monster" part. So later he browsed the internet only to find amateur videos about a lizard man. He thought they were fake at first. It wasn't the first time he saw those kinds of videos, but those relayed by the TV ? He had no choice but to believe it.

He wondered how such a thing could happen. Everyone who had been transformed into a lizard got turned back into humans thanks to the serum he launched right after. It couldn't have missed someone, right ? And be stuck as a lizard for years without making it known ? Weird. Was this "hero" really born that night ?

He had to find them to know and to help them fix it.

Peter thought that since they did the same thing as him, it would be easy to find them, where the crime is, there they are ! But each time they seemed to always be in the opposite place as him, always so far away as if they knew where he was and were avoiding him.

After a few days he remembered the sewers. He could catch them there, playing on their field.

And it didn't miss. After a few hours of waiting one of his webs moved.

Following its direction, another one vibrated, quickly he followed them and fast enough he found the lizard.

Quietly and slowly he hid, not wanting to be found just yet, waiting for a good and safe opportunity to show up.

But suddenly, they jump up the drain to leave the sewers and their shape changes, slimmer, smaller. And their face shows just for a second.

?!

They looked like you ?! Quickly, he followed you, them, ??? and found himself facing you as you were about to close the manhole. 

"[Name] ?"

"Pete- Spider-man ?"

"You're the lizard-man ?"

"No ?"

"...oh sorry for a moment I thought I saw the lizard turn literally into you. [Name]."

You sigh, helping him out the drain and explain yourself. For a moment he can't believe it's you and wonders if you don't have a clone or something like that. Then it made sense.

You had quitted your job, you had free time yet you were barely home. You didn't text him as much as before now, too busy to keep him company through text.

"So your cancer is, gone, gone ?"

"Yeah"

"How are you going to explain that to your friends ?"

"Well, my cancer is gone. I beat it. I won. I'm cancer free. Whatever cancer free person say."

For a moment he doesn't know what to say. Congrats ? You did the right thing ? It could've been dangerous you shouldn't have ? He's glad you're okay ?

So he says nothing, first taking in everything you told him and understanding how you felt and feel now. 

"Why didn't you tell me ?"

"I didn't know how to. I tried dropping hints but it was so lame I-"

"You said you loved lizards two weeks ago. I should've known."

"No."

[alrightbuckaroo]

19 for the prompt list <3

19. ‘it made me think of you.’

Did NOT expect this to be a little over 900 words, but I hope you enjoy it all the same <3

--

First Responder's Fair is home to many things; double fried foods, rigged carny games and at the moment, a very confused TK Strand.

"Wait," TK sucks his teeth, to which Nancy grimaces at. "You mean to tell me the sweet tea down here is actually," TK pauses. "Well, sweet?"

Nancy and Tommy share a look across the picnic table while TK takes another hearty sip. Nancy begs the question she didn't think she'd ever have to ask. "What made you think sweet tea wasn't sweet?"

"It never was up north, tasted more like dish water than anything."

Tommy, then, begs the question she didn't think she'd ever have to ask. "TK, why do you know what dish water tastes like?"

"My friend Cash used to work at the Sally's Diner back when we were in high school, bet me ten dollars that I wouldn't drink from the dish sink from the after lunch rush. He thought I couldn't, or more so, wouldn't do it." TK smiles smugly. "Guess who left Sally's that day ten dollars richer."

"And was out sick from school the following three days because he got food poisoning." Owen adds as he sits down, joining them at the table. His hands full with two corndogs and a frozen lemonade. "Had to rush him to the ER because he kept complaining about stomach pains."

"So I guess it wasn't a question of couldn't or wouldn't, but more of a shouldn't." Tommy jokes, breaking off a piece of her funnel cake.

"Nice to know that you taking up residence in the ER isn't just a Texas thing." Nancy rallies and TK feels like he's been attacked by all fronts.

"My newfound stomach of steel would argue it was worth it."

"It wasn't." Owen is quick to interject.

"Anyways," TK goes to change the subject. He points at the corndogs in Owen's hand. "Dad, corndogs, where?"

Owen tells him where the booth is and TK makes it his mission to scout it out. He stands up, and treks his way over. He sees both Isabella and Evie standing in line for cotton candy, alone. His eyebrows furrow when he doesn't see Carlos anywhere.

Last he saw them, Carlos was taking them to the ring toss in hopes of coming home with a new pet goldfish. For the girls, not TK, which Carlos made absolutely clear.

"Hey girls, where's Carlos?"

"Milk bottles." They both say at the same time. TK thanks them, and walks around until he finds the milk bottles. He sees Carlos before Carlos can see him. Even from a distance, he can see Carlos is uncharacteristically sweaty and his curls have started to break free.

As he walks up, he watches Carlos throw a baseball and raise his arms in cheer before he winces and lowers his right arm.

"Babe," TK says as he gets closer. Now that he's closer to Carlos, he can see the beads of sweat dripping down his face and the ring of it around the neckline of his shirt. TK's confused, it's hot out, as expected, it is Texas, after all; but it's not that hot. "What's going on?"

Carlos starts when he realizes TK is next to him. He was so focused on the pyramid of milk bottles in front of him. "Oh no," Carlos responds. "You weren't supposed to see, it was supposed to be a surprise."

"Here you are, sir." A man in a red and white striped shirt hands Carlos a stuffed orange lizard. Carlos goes to reach for it with his right hand but changes to his left hand.

"And this is for you." Carlos holds out the stuffed animal to TK who stares at it, slightly perplexed, slightly in awe and even more slightly in love.

TK reaches for it, and Carlos smiles at him like he's worth every curl unfurled. "Babe," He grabs Carlos' left hand, careful not to irritate the right one. He pulls them aside, out of the walk way and earshot of the carny. "Did you throw out your right arm trying to win me a stuff lizard?"

"It made me think of you," Carlos affirms, wiping at his face on his shirt sleeve. "I couldn't not get it. Who knew it would be level to training day for the academy." He rotates his arm, trying to gauge the pain.

"Well, this just means I get to give a slow, sensual massage later tonight." TK whispers into his ear.

"TK," Carlos smirks. He nods to the ring toss they're standing next to. "Not in front of the gold fish."

TK stares at the stuffed animal in his hands. It's eyes are a little too close together, and it's smile is a little crooked, but he loves it all the same. That said, TK begs the question he never thought he'd have to ask. "Babe, how much did you spend on this little guy?"

Carlos is silent, trying to think of the best answer. The last thing he wants to do is tell TK he spent close to ten dollars worth of quarters on a stuffed toy that probably cause ten cents to make. "Baby, you know my love for you is priceless."

TK rolls his eyes, but his smile really gives him away. "You're so cheesy."

Carlos grabs TK's hand again; he suddenly finds himself having a real hankering for corndogs. "You love it."

TK laughs, "Not really," He pulls Carlos is for a kiss that tastes like sugary sweet tea. "But I love you."

send me a soft fic prompt!

[halothenthehorns]

Chapter 2: THE BRONZE DRAGON

Magnus saw that last word and just stopped. Just sat there frozen and looked like he wanted to cry. Why? Why was Percy's life like this?

"Magnus?" Under any other circumstances, Magnus would have been equally confused and delighted why Alex sounded so concerned over him.

"The, Bronze, Dragon," he slowly drug out every word like he was trying to suck the water off of a rock. A very pointless and disgusting task.

"Whatever nice things were said about Hephaestus need to be revoked right now!" Percy agreed with every dreaded line on Magnus's face.

Nico made a little yeep noise as well, his first thought being Bianca leaping into that thing's mouth and making it do the chicken dance as well.

"Please let this be an adventure about you getting shrunk down and fighting an armadillo lizard*," Jason was the only one who sounded excited. Then Percy considered for a moment and even nodded like that could have some fun before Magnus read on in dread before anybody else got crazier ideas.

One dragon can ruin your whole day.

"One dragon can ruin someone's whole life Percy!" Magnus groaned. He begged of the following words to please be something like Peleus with a stomach ache! An actual, made-up bad dream? A very oddly themed birthday party for some kid not cursed by the universe?!

"Surely that's why I'm there, to make it go from one to the other," Percy offered with half-hearted hope of his own he just had to help a dragon egg hatch or something cute and innocent... like his life was ever that easy.

Trust me, as a demigod I've had my share of bad experiences. I've been snapped at, clawed at, blowtorched and poisoned. I've fought single-headed dragons, double-headed, eight-headed, nine-headed and the kind with so many heads that if you stopped to count them you'd be pretty much dead.

"Nobody was ever going to ask you to reminisce about the hydra Percy," Thalia sighed. Why couldn't that have been his worst dragon experience?

"Frankly all that just made me think to ask you, again, how are you alive?" Jason nodded.

"Luck and some mild skill," Percy reminded.

But that time with the bronze dragon? I thought for sure my friends and I were going to end up as Kibbles "n" Dragon Bits.

The evening started simply enough.

"It always does with you," Will nodded without surprise. He alone seemed to have a pretty good idea what this one was about, and aside from rubbing Nico's arm to help chase those shivers away he didn't want to spoil the fun for anyone.

It was the end of June.

"Oh," Percy said in surprise as he did a double take. "This happened, before that thing with Clarisse though! That explains the weird smell!"

Nobody else had a clue what he was talking about, they just all kind of assumed Clraisse smelled like motor oil.

I'd come back from my most recent quest about two weeks before, and life at Camp Half-Blood was returning to normal. Satyrs were chasing the dryads. Monsters howled in the woods. The campers were playing pranks on one another and our camp director, Dionysus, was turning anyone who misbehaved into a shrub. Typical summer-camp stuff.

Magnus stopped cold like he'd been the one turned into a shrub. Which was ridiculous, he didn't have a single leaf on him.

"He turns them back Magnus," Will shrugged.

Magnus counted to ten in his head before deciding against asking for further details.

After dinner, all the campers were hanging out at the dining pavilion. We were all excited because that evening capture the flag was going to be totally vicious.

The night before, Hephaestus's cabin had pulled off a huge upset. They'd captured the flag from Ares – with my help, thank you very much –

"Nobody was thanking you Percy," Thalia scoffed.

"Well maybe more people should," Percy tried to give her big pouty eyes, but it was ruined by everybody laughing to much and he couldn't begin to hold it.

which meant that the Ares cabin would be out for blood. Well... they're always out for blood, but this night especially.

On the blue team were Hephaestus's cabin, Apollo, Hermes and me – the only demigod in Poseidon's cabin. The bad news was that for once Athena and Ares – both war god cabins – were against us on the red team, along with Aphrodite, Dionysus and Demeter. Athena's cabin held the other flag and my friend Annabeth was their captain.

"I need politics and details stat!" Jason turned and pleaded to Percy like he was going to fall on his knees.

Will lit up, clearly all for going into the latest drama that had caused such shifts in dynamics to occur, but Thalia and Percy groaned in sync, quite loudly. Seems as if unless they were the ones running the teams they weren't going to happily sit around and play back who had pranked whom, what revenge was needed, and the height of impressing others.

Jason sighed but reluctantly gave in that could take hours just to get caught up on a week's worth, but gave Will a very obvious look as if book marking him for later.

Annabeth is not somebody you want as an enemy.

"Which is why Percy seems to make a life goal of it!" Alex chuckled with a very pointed gesture at him like they'd missed her target.

"I only aim for the best," Percy puffed his chest up with pride and swooped back his hair.

Thalia smacked him in the stomach, causing him to deflate and the gray strands of hair to fall back in place as she smirked, "in everything except grades."

Right before the game, she strolled up to me. "Hey, Seaweed Brain."

"Will you stop calling me that?"

"I didn't call you anything," Will said innocently.

Only Nico laughed while the others groaned even louder at the terrible pun. Though Magnus ignored them all with interest. That was, in fact, the first time he'd heard Percy wanted her to stop that, and as far as he could tell from the light-hearted smile on his face now and the passive eye-roll, Percy hardly meant it.

She knows I hate that name, mostly because I never have a good comeback.

"The worst atrocity I could name," Alex sighed.

"You should never be brought to a comedy show," Percy said with a hint of dread. She'd heckle anybody and get herself thrown out...though Percy wouldn't believe that wasn't her goal going in.

She's the daughter of Athena, which doesn't give me a lot of ammunition. I mean, "Owl-head" and "Wise Girl" are kind of lame insults.

"Lame but classics," Alex nodded contemplatively. "Surely you could get creative with all the world of nerd insults. Poindexter might suit her, or-"

"We are not going to sit around and make up insults about her, or her cabin," Thalia sighed.

"Just trying to keep the playing field even," Alex said, though raised her hands quickly in surrender.

"You know you love it." She bumped me with her shoulder, which I guess was supposed to be friendly, but she was wearing full Greek armour, so it kind of hurt.

"Both," Jason snorted.

"Definitely both," Percy agreed as he rubbed his shoulder with the biggest smile.

Her grey eyes sparkled under her helmet. Her blonde ponytail curled around one shoulder. It was hard for anyone to look cute in combat armour, but Annabeth pulled it off.

"Cute, huh?" Will's little laugh was so infectious even as he rolled his eyes hard. "How, on earth, Travis ever bet against me that you two would end up together I'll never know when you literally had these thoughts running through your brain."

"Why were there bets?!" Percy seemed to be missing the teasing part of that as he once again frowned at Will. "Where is this magical bulletin board?"

"Right next to the one with play tryout dates," he said saintly. "Up in the Big House, don't know how you've missed it."

Percy didn't seem able to close his mouth to properly get anything back and Magnus took pity on him and moved on before he'd have to.

"Tell you what." She lowered her voice. "We're going to crush you tonight, but if you pick a safe position... like right flank, for instance... I'll make sure you don't get pulverized too much."

"Retreat! Re-treat!" Jason enunciated very clearly. "This is a trap! Percy, please run for your life!" He said it in a pretty bad imitation of a robotic alarmed voice for some reason like a crappy fire drill.

Probably because it would have had as much effect on Percy then as it did now, who was to busy grinning at the challenge to hear a word.

"Gee, thanks," I said, "but I'm playing to win."

She smiled. "See you on the battlefield."

She jogged back to her teammates, who all laughed and gave her high fives. I'd never seen her so happy, like the chance to beat me up was the best thing that had ever happened to her.

"Percy is doomed," Thalia agreed casually. "Apparently even without fighting with me he can't avoid screwing up these games."

"I helped win the last one!" He spluttered, breaking out of his delusion of her hair escaping its helmet to glare at Thalia non-effectively. "You could have a little faith in me, I know her, her tricks!" He ended with a pretty sad stutter and crossed-eyed concern if this was a trick in a trick to make that any kind of believable.

Beckendorf walked up with his helmet under his arm. "She likes you, man."

"Sure," I muttered. "She likes me for target practice."

"Both," Jason said again with absolute confidence.

"Definitely both," Alex chuckled.

"I almost believed you that time," Percy sighed.

"Oh we're serious," Jason and Alex assured.

"Nah, they always do that. A girl starts trying to kill you, you know she's into you."

"What is this, playground rules?" Magnus sighed. He was no fool, he knew full well his cousin liked Percy back, but it was clearly complicated with her for several reasons and he assumed that's why she didn't act on it more. Who was this ding-dong, whose name he only vaguely recognized, trying to assure Percy of anything?

"Makes a lot of sense."

Beckendorf shrugged. "I know about these things. You ought to ask her to the fireworks."

Percy sighed. He'd really been wanting to talk to somebody about this back then, and Beckendorf seemed like the guy all of a sudden, but now that the moment was here...it felt like a waste of breath. What could he say Percy didn't already know?

I couldn't tell if he was serious. Beckendorf was lead counsellor for Hephaestus. He was this huge dude with a permanent scowl, muscles like a pro ballplayer, and hands calloused from working in the forges. He'd just turned eighteen and was on his way to NYU in the autumn. Since he was older, I usually listened to him about stuff, but the idea of asking Annabeth to the Fourth of July fireworks down at the beach – like, the biggest dating event of the summer – made my stomach do somersaults.

Then Silena Beauregard, the head counsellor for Aphrodite, passed by. Beckendorf had had a not-so-secret crush on her for three years. She had long black hair and big blue eyes, and when she walked the guys tended to watch. She said, "Good luck, Charlie." (Nobody ever calls Beckendorf by his first name.) She flashed him a brilliant smile and went to join Annabeth on the red team.

"I think she was beckoning to him," Alex said with a brilliant smile. Will and Nico both laughed hard at the pun while Jason and Magnus joined the groaning this time.

"Uh..." Beckendorf swallowed like he'd forgotten how to breathe.

I patted him on the shoulder. "Thanks for the advice, dude. Glad you're so wise about girls and all. Come on. Let's get to the woods."

Percy laughed along loudest of all. Finally, somebody else's girl misshaps wasn't at his expense!

...it felt a tad forced in his throat for some reason though he didn't like. A nagging idea in the back of his mind that had sporadically been cropping up. Now here, thinking of the beach, talking to Silena, the thought tried so hard to crystalize into something- but the idea was gone as his stomach pitched in pain and his skin felt a great flush of heat. He knew that feeling, he knew better than to mess with a memory like that.

Naturally, Beckendorf and I took the most dangerous job.

"Naturally," Will repeated in a very posh, british voice.

"Because if we gave Will the most dangerous job he'd stop to sniff the oranges to much," Nico smirked.

"We all have our strengths," he agreed without batting an eye.

While the Apollo cabin played defence with their bows, the Hermes cabin would charge up the middle of the woods to distract the enemy. Meanwhile, Beckendorf and I would scout around the left flank, locate the enemy's flag, knock out the defenders and get the flag back to our side. Simple.

Why the left flank?

"Because Annabeth wanted me to go right," I told Beckendorf, "which means she doesn't want us to go left."

"Please tell me you at least considered a double cross? Then a triple cross. Then a quadruple cross-"

"Jason!" Percy groaned. "I'm well aware Annabeth's going to pull one over on me, but I had to pick a lane! I'm sure I threw off her whole plan by just showing up."

Jason just shook his head at him, but then, he also would have been interrogating Annabeth about every layer of her plan if she were here and refused to tell him, so Percy didn't feel that bad about stopping him from pitching every way he was going to be wrong.

Beckendorf nodded. "Let's suit up."

He'd been working on a secret weapon for the two of us – bronze chameleon armour, enchanted to blend into the background. If we stood in front of rocks, our breastplates, helms and shields turned grey. If we stood in front of bushes, the metal changed to a leafy green. It wasn't true invisibility, but we'd have pretty good cover, at least from a distance.

Alex threw her head back laughing. "Somebody got jealous of Annabeth's hat!

"Ooo," Thalia said with interest. "Where's mine?"

Percy had some half-baked remark about her doing extra chores for him to help get Beckendorf's favor, but he choked on the words and nothing really came out except some spit while Thalia patted him on the back with a troubled smile she tried hard to look real.

"This stuff took forever to forge," Beckendorf warned me. "Don't mess it up!"

"You got it, Captain."

Beckendorf grunted. I could tell he liked being called Captain.

Thalia was still listening with great interest, and clearly decided she had her own turn at co-captain with him stuck in her craw more than letting him dwell on why he kept pressing his thumb between his eyes.

"Oh sure, him you just conceded the throne to! I was born to be a righteous, mighty warrior to lead armies, but this guy you just hand the crown."

Percy's shaking hand fell, a teasing smile instantly back. "Try getting accepted into college Thals, then maybe I'll watch you run your own team right into the river."

They even started bartering back and forth about who would get which cabin before Magnus bravely cleared his throat and waved the book around before they realized Annabeth would have to pick a side. That was a blood bath waiting to happen.

The rest of the Hephaestus campers wished us well, and we sneaked off into the woods, immediately turning brown and green to match the trees.

We crossed the creek that served as the boundary between the teams. We heard fighting in the distance – swords clashing against shields. I glimpsed a flash of light from some magical weapon, but we saw no one.

"No border guards?" Beckendorf whispered. "Weird."

"Overconfident," I guessed. But I felt uneasy. Annabeth was a great strategist. It wasn't like her to be sloppy about defence, even if her team did outnumber us.

Jason was over there muttering, "trap, this is a trap," and even spelling it out under his breath repeatedly while Thalia was still smirking and muttering about Percy botching this up like he had to hers. Percy sighed again about what great faith his friends seemed to have in him, but at least the headache was staying at bay.

We moved into enemy territory. I knew we had to hurry, because our team was playing a defensive game, and that couldn't last forever. The Apollo kids would get over-run sooner or later. The Ares cabin wouldn't be slowed down by a little thing like arrows.

"What about trick arrows?" Alex asked with interest. "Tip them in all kinds of fun stuff, or attach any number of things to activate-"

"I think we should just ban Alex's desert privileges before she even gets there," Percy grinned.

"Take away my chocolate, dudette, see what happens," she smirked.

"That sounds like a Chiron problem," Percy shrugged, picking at the hem of his shirt without concern.

We crept along the base of an oak tree. I almost jumped out of my skin when a girl's face emerged from the trunk. "Shoo!" she said, then faded back into the bark.

"Dryads," Beckendorf grumbled. "So touchy."

"Am not!" a muffled voice said from the tree.

Magnus was pretty proud of himself for laughing along at the mild moment instead of, say, freaking out the tree's could decide to kill them all in their sleep. Again.

We kept moving. It was hard to tell exactly where we were. Some landmarks stood out, like the creek and certain cliffs and some really old trees, but the woods tended to shift around. I guess the nature spirits got restless. Paths changed. Trees moved.

"They what?" Magnus yelped like his tail was on fire. "They just, move their whole tree, and roots, and plant them, and, they what?"

"It's pretty funny to watch, they just hike their leaf skirts up and their branches get top heavy sometimes so they-"

Thalia finally smacked Percy to get him to stop while the others couldn't stop snickering at the look of miserable acceptance on Magnus's face when he couldn't decide if Percy was telling the truth, or worse, nobody had any clue how or why the dryads did that and it was just another level of crazy.

Then suddenly we were at the edge of a clearing. I knew we were in trouble when I saw the mountain of dirt.

"A child of the ocean's worst enemy," Thalia snorted. "Take notes Nico."

"I've never tried just throwing soil around," he admitted with a smile that didn't mean he wouldn't be willing.

Percy narrowed his eyes contemplatively who would beat whom, earth-shaker versus child of the Underworld. He'd just have to challenge him to a digging competition to prove it later.

"Holy Hephaestus," Beckendorf whispered. "The Ant Hill."

"Do you all take your parent's names in vain?" Jason startled in surprise.

"Well it would just be weird if he said Holy Aphrodite, now wouldn't it," Percy shrugged.

"So who should Jason pray to? Merlin's Mankini," Alex smirked.

"If I've ever dabbled in witchcraft Alex, I would use whatever spell I could to burn that image from my mind," Jason sighed.

I wanted to back up and run. I'd never seen the Ant Hill before,

Why is Ant Hill capitalized, Magnus let the stray thought flit through his mind without interrupting to point it out. He just wanted a few more seconds of delusional peace this was just a sacred place and they were in awe of all its nonlethal help.

but I'd heard stories from the older campers. The mound rose almost to the treetops – four storeys at least. Its sides were riddled with tunnels, and crawling in and out were thousands of...

"Myrmekes," I muttered.

"Oh this is bad," Jason already realized. Percy never remembered the name of a monster otherwise.

That's Ancient Greek for "ants", but these things were way more than that. They would've given any exterminator a heart attack.

"Me too," Magnus promised with an opener like that.

The Myrmekes were the size of German shepherds. Their armoured shells glistened blood-red. Their eyes were beady black and their razor-sharp mandibles sliced and snapped. Some carried tree branches. Some carried chunks of raw meat that I really didn't want to know about. Most carried bits of metal – old armour, swords, food platters that had somehow found their way out here from the dining pavilion. One ant was dragging the glossy black hood of a sports car.

Magnus face planted the pages and groaned with misery. He'd been expecting a dragon, he'd been trying to mentally prepare himself for scaly beasts that could eat them! Now there were two, or more likely two thousand more deadly things running around! Why was Percy's life like this?!

"Now those are the kind of bugs that can take over the world, survive the apocalypse and become our new lords of the land," Alex grinned with wild delight, wondering if she could turn into something metal.

"They have to work on their infrastructure before I'd consider it," Percy said, resisting the urge to plug his nose through memory.

"They love shiny metal," Beckendorf whispered. "Especially gold. I've heard they have more gold in their nest than Fort Knox." He sounded envious.

"Don't even think about it," I said.

"Now that's a roll reversal if I've ever heard one," Nico chuckled in surprise. His stomach was pitching in disgust at the idea of mounds of treasure, he could all to easily picture Bianca in there picking up a hair pin and his old figurine again...so it was much more fun to imagine Beckendorf holding Percy's straps back at the idea of these things getting their jaws on a gold skateboard.

"I was not one of those weird kids who tried to drown and burn ant hills," Percy sniffed.

"Dude, I won't," he promised. "Let's get out of here while we..."

His eyes widened.

Fifteen metres*50 feet away, two ants were struggling to drag a big hunk of metal towards their nest. It was the size of a refrigerator, all glittery gold and bronze, with weird bumps and ridges down the side and a bunch of wires sticking out the bottom. Then the ants rolled the thing over, and I saw a face.

Magnus was about one word away from throwing this book in that trashcan that vanished things to nowhere. He'd give Percy better memories, he'd make up ones that didn't involve...all of this.

I just about jumped out of my skin. "That's a –"

"Shhh!" Beckendorf pulled me back into the bushes.

"But that's a –"

"Dragon's head," he said in awe. "Yes. I see it."

"So it's only his head," Magnus sighed in relief, the book's saving grace. "I can live with that."

"Right, buddy, you keep thinking that," Will muttered low enough Magnus only squinted suspiciously at him. What on earth made the poor guy think the rest of the body wouldn't come with the head?

The snout was as long as my body. The mouth hung open, showing metal teeth like a shark's. Its skin was a combination of gold and bronze scales, and its eyes were rubies as big as my fists. The head looked like it had been hacked from its body – chewed by ant mandibles. The wires were frayed and tangled.

"Robot dragon," Magnus sighed, trying to decide if that made this horror better or worse. On one hand he could imagine Tyson punching it in the face a little easier. On the other...robot dragon!

"I bet Percy sticks his head in that and tries to scare Annabeth," Alex snickered.

"I'm worried where the rest of the body is," Jason frowned how a camp had a whole dragon buried somewhere in there and what else was just under their feet.

"Hey, I just realized," Magnus looked a little extra miserable now for some reason. "Where's Tyson? I'd feel better with a fire-breathing machine around if he was."

"He went back to the Cyclops forges the week before," Percy said reluctantly. "Trust me, I was missing him right about then too."

The head must've been heavy, too, because the ants were struggling, moving it only a few centimetres with every tug.

"If they get it to the hill," Beckendorf said, "the other ants will help them. We've got to stop them."

"I take it back," Nico said with a puzzled frown. "Everybody at your camp is just nuts."

"So glad to not be the exception for once," Percy nodded his agreement.

"What?" I asked. "Why?"

"It's a sign from Hephaestus. Come on!"

Magnus dropped the book in his lap and pressed his hands to his ears. "I never want to hear of another sign from your parents!"

"This is a good one," Will tried to soothe, though his voice hitching a bit gave away the lie, so he finished, "eventually."

Magnus gave him a baleful look and wondered how many people the robot dragon killed just by stepping on them before that eventually happened. There really was just no point arguing though he should skip to that, Percy's reaction was probably going to be worse than whatever the dragon did.

I didn't know what he was talking about, but I'd never seen Beckendorf look so determined. He sprinted along the edge of the clearing, his armour blending into the trees.

I was about to follow when something sharp and cold pressed against my neck.

"Surprise," Annabeth said, right next me. She must've had her magic Yankees cap on because she was totally invisible.

"I guess that makes sense," Jason chuckled. "She'd know better than to take her eyes off of you."

"She just wanted to jack that armor for herself," Alex smirked.

"She doesn't need it," Magnus said blankly.

"But I'm sure she has a whole speech ready about Percy stealing her thing," Alex insisted.

I tried to move, but she dug her knife under my chin.

"You've been held at knifepoint enough in your life," Nico shook his head, "I think I'm with Alex, she's just jealous she never got her turn at that too."

"I'm sure Annabeth has a list somewhere of what she wants revenge on Percy for and this was just a convenient outlet," Will chuckled.

Silena appeared out of the woods, her sword drawn. Her Aphrodite armour was pink and red, colour coordinated to match her clothes and makeup. She looked like Guerilla Warfare Barbie.

Thalia laughed way to hard at that one, but she'd been making Barbie jokes about that cabin for years and was probably just mad and appreciative of Percy getting to that one first.

"Nice work," she told Annabeth.

An invisible hand confiscated my sword. Annabeth took off her cap and appeared before me, smiling smugly. "Boys are easy to follow. They make more noise than a lovesick Minotaur."

Magnus looked newly traumatized at that sentence. "Who, who would he be lovesick after?"

"Geryon probably, he's the only monster with enough heart and a love of cattle," Alex said slyly.

Most of the others didn't seem to know whether to laugh or gag at that input and Magnus decided to read around her for it.

My face felt hot. I tried to think back, hoping I hadn't said anything embarrassing.

"You did not actually," Jason said helpfully, for once. "Though I'm sure it's just a matter of time."

There it was.

No telling how long Annabeth and Silena had been eavesdropping.

"You're our prisoner," Annabeth announced. "Let's get Beckendorf and –"

"Beckendorf!" For a split second I'd forgotten about him, but he was still forging ahead –

"Right towards the deadly ants," Will sighed.

"Annabeth truly will block out any other thought," Nico sounded grudgingly impressed.

straight towards the dragon's head. He was already twelve metres *40 feet away. He hadn't noticed the girls, or the fact that I wasn't behind him.

"Not the, greatest backup," Jason frowned.

"Credit for determination," Thalia shrugged.

"I bet he invents something that forces people to eat his dust," Alex chuckled.

"Come on!" I told Annabeth.

She pulled me back. "Where do you think you're going, prisoner?"

"I imagine her dragging you all the way back to Alcatraz and throwing you in the cell Braries used to be in just to prove her point," Magnus admitted.

"Labyrinth or no Labyrinth," Percy agreed.

"Look!"

She peered into the clearing and for the first time seemed to realize where we were. "Oh, Zeus..."

Beckendorf leaped into the open and struck one of the ants. His sword clanged off the thing's carapace. The ant turned, snapping its pincers. Before I could even call out, the ant bit Beckendorf's leg, and he crumpled to the ground. The second ant sprayed goo in his face, and Beckendorf screamed. He dropped his sword and slapped wildly at his eyes.

The collective shudder that went around the room may have knocked a few more support beams off their hinges. That went from zero to a hundred real quick from a friendly game to a death sentence. If this kid died, or even was maimed from these horrible injuries Percy was going to take that very personally...

I surged forward, but Annabeth pulled me back. "No."

"Charlie!" Silena yelled.

"Don't!" Annabeth hissed. "It's already too late!"

"What are you talking about?" I demanded. "We have to –"

Then I noticed more ants swarming towards Beckendorf – ten, twenty. They grabbed him by the armour and dragged him towards the hill so fast he was swept into a tunnel and disappeared.

Magnus was left sitting there shivering for several moments at the brutality of that. Bianca's and Zeo's deaths had been blunt, but not so much an out of the blue considering who they'd been fighting and the quests they'd been on. They didn't even know this guy, and it had just shot out of nowhere, like all those shrouds at camp were still waiting to float up.

"No!" Silena pushed Annabeth. "You let them take Charlie!"

Jason took an uneasy breath, trying to keep well off his face he wasn't sure how to take that. She'd saved Percy and Silena's life by doing so, but the cost felt ruthless.

"There's no time to argue," Annabeth said. "Come on!"

I thought she was going to lead us on a charge to save Beckendorf, but instead she raced to the dragon's head, which the ants had momentarily forgotten. She grabbed it by the wires and started dragging it towards the woods.

Percy's mouth was a fantastic showing of his feelings for that. She had never once shown an inclination for stuff over somebody's life, she hadn't even blinked at throwing Deadlus's wings away, she was as much a figurehead in that camp as him for kids to look up to. He'd follow her lead, but not exactly without hesitation when she was going to be crazier than an automaton about it.

"What are you doing?" I demanded. "Beckendorf –"

"Help me," Annabeth grunted. "Quick, before they get back."

"Oh, my gods!" Silena said. "You're more worried about this hunk of metal than Charlie?"

"Did that sign from Hephaestus involve some part of saying a child of Athena would become addicted to dragon heads?" Magnus asked in absolute concern for her mental health.

"You'd be lucky if a sign from a god had a message that clear," Thalia scoffed.

Annabeth spun around and shook her by the shoulders. "Listen, Silena! Those are Myrmekes. They're like fire ants, only a hundred times worse. Their bite is poison. They spray acid. They communicate with all the other ants and swarm over anything that threatens them.

"I liked my world better when I didn't know all of that," Magnus huffed, doing a poor job of ignoring Alex grinning in fascination and studying her hands like she was already imagining them with feelers.

If we'd rushed in there to help Beckendorf, we would have been dragged inside, too. We're going to need help – a lot of help – to get him back. Now, grab some wires and pull!"

Will watched as Percy clenched his hands and prepared to do as asked. He'd been about to follow Beckendorf without a clue. As much as everyone at Camp considered him a leader, it was really they all followed Percy's lead. Annabeth keeping Silena's head on was something to be proud of, Percy was the camp's beacon of who to shine the light on.

I didn't know what Annabeth was up to, but I'd adventured with her long enough to figure she had a good reason for what she was doing. The three of us tugged the metal dragon's head into the woods. Annabeth didn't let us stop until we were fifty meters* 55 yards from the clearing.

Magnus whistled in appreciation. "You drug that thing half a football field!"

"Almost a full blue whale," Alex grinned.

"At minimum as long as these books are laid out," Thalia rolled her eyes.

"It felt as long as the Jersy Turnpike," Percy groaned as he rotated his shoulder in vivid memory.

Then we collapsed, sweating and breathing hard.

Silena started to cry. "He's probably dead already."

"No," Annabeth said. "They won't kill him right away. We've got about half an hour."

"How do you know that?" I asked.

"Is she an entomologist too?" Jason sighed with envy.

"She's a Greek-ologist," Percy reminded with pride.

"I've read about the Myrmekes. They paralyse their prey so they can soften them up before –"

Silena sobbed. "We have to save him!"

"What Silena's siblings are probably thinking of her being in Annabeth's company for to long," Nico muttered. That girl didn't have an ounce of tact...and he was kind of annoyed he probably would have gone into details of their eating habits too without realizing that wasn't helping.

"Silena," Annabeth said. "We're going to save him, but I need you to get a grip. There is a way."

"Call the other campers," I said, "or Chiron. Chiron will know what to do."

"I don't think an exterminator has enough bug spray for this problem, let alone him," Magnus shivered.

"Where's a monster ant eater when you need one," Jason agreed.

"Why would you want Echidna back right now?" Will looked at him strangely.

Annabeth shook her head. "They're scattered all over the woods. By the time we got everyone back here, it would be too late. Besides, the entire camp wouldn't be strong enough to invade the Ant Hill."

"Then why is it there?!" Magnus cried in exasperation, he looked very near tears. "I demand an explanation why you and your entire nutjob of a family feel the need to have this in your backyard!"

"Lots of monsters got in before Thalia's tree was blessed," Will shrugged, completely unphased by his minor tantrum. "As you just read, we can't exactly kick them all out even if there was a reason to."

Magnus sighed and muttered an apology, reminding himself there was just no point in arguing any of this.

"Then what?"

Annabeth pointed at the dragon's head.

"Okay," I said. "You're going to scare the ants with a big metal puppet?"

"Annabeth does love taking part in our play, she's nearly always the star," Will snickered.

Percy gave him a long-suffering sigh. He was not going to strangle Will, he promised himself. He was just having fun, that was overkill, he would not strangle this idiot because of a joke...

"It's an automaton," she said.

That didn't make me feel any better. Automatons were magical bronze robots made by Hephaestus. Most of them were crazed killing machines, and those were the nice ones.

"What does that make Daedalus?" Alex mock whispered.

"The best of the worst," Percy snorted.

"So what?" I said. "It's just a head. It's broken."

"And sadly, I think the mermaids realize that, considering they dragged it there," Magnus sighed.

"Myermeks," Thalia corrected.

"Not if they're going to kidnap people back to their lair and drown them in acid they're not," Magnus sniffed.

"Percy, this isn't just any automaton," Annabeth said. "It's the bronze dragon. Haven't you heard the stories?"

I stared at her blankly.

"How to sum up these books in one sentence," Nico smirked.

Annabeth had been at camp a lot longer than I had. She probably knew tons of stories I didn't.

"Percy, you really don't have to keep repeating yourself," Jason shook his head.

"We just assume Annabeth knows every story ever, she's read every book and probably sleeps on a throne of them," Magnus rolled his eyes.

"I bet her favorite is probably still something mundane, like Star Wars," Alex said with a little wrist wave.

"Star Wars has a book?" Percy asked blankly.

"Would you guys stop trying to confuse the poor guy," Thalia said with a tragic expression as she moved to cover his ears, "you're crumbling his entire worldview!"

Percy smacked her away and called them all clowns and a few other choice words.

Silena's eyes widened. "You mean the old guardian? But that's just a legend!"

"Whoa," I said. "What old guardian?"

Annabeth took a deep breath. "Percy, in the days before Thalia's tree – back before the camp had magical boundaries to keep out monsters – the counsellors tried all sorts of different ways to protect themselves. The most famous was the bronze dragon. The Hephaestus cabin made it with the blessing of their father. Supposedly it was so fierce and powerful that it kept the camp safe for over a decade. And then... about fifteen years ago, it disappeared into the woods."

"Ooooh," Nico said in surprise. "Beckendorf's reaction actually does make sense now."

"Better than some other ancient prophecy about the end of the world," Percy agreed.

"And you think this is its head?"

"It has to be! The Myrmekes probably dug it up while they were looking for precious metal. They couldn't move the whole thing, so they chewed off the head. The body can't be far away."

"But they chewed it apart. It's useless."

"Not to mention, um, why did its batteries run out?" Magnus frowned. What did these things even run on? He'd never thought to ask.

"I'm pretty sure Annabeth could make a toadstool useful," Percy reminded.

"Not necessarily." Annabeth's eyes narrowed, and I could tell her brain was working overtime. "We could reassemble it. If we could activate it –"

"It could help us rescue Charlie!" Silena said.

"Hold up," I said. "That's a lot of ifs. If we find it, if we can reactivate it in time, if it will help us.

"I'm surprised that has you pausing," Thalia said. "Your life is a big series of what if's."

"What if I die, what if I die, what if I die?" Jason repeated, throwing up a finger for each.

"The day I stop worrying about that is the day I get cursed with immortality," Percy reminded with nothing but dread.

You said this thing disappeared fifteen years ago?"

Annabeth nodded. "Some say its motor wore out so it went into the woods to deactivate itself. Or its programming went haywire. No one knows."

"Do they hibernate?" Alex grinned. "Did it go off looking for a mate? Maybe he wanted to go on a better adventure where some poor farm boy finds him and saves the world."

"I need you to keep your ideas far away from Cabin 9," Will frowned at her. "If they make these things any more realistic, I will cry right along with Magnus."

"I'm just trying to foster encouragement and creativity," but Alex batted her eyes in a purely menacing way, a clearly deep want to have a robot dragon that she could ride into battle and slay the entire planet.

"You want to reassemble a haywire metal dragon?"

"I want Annabeth to have normal hopes and dreams," Percy sighed.

"Sorry Perce, wanting to date you doesn't fall on that list," Jason smirked.

Percy considered for a moment if the trade would still be worth it for his bladder's sake, but he didn't get the chance to linger on it.

"We have to try!" Annabeth said. "It's Beckendorf's only hope! Besides, this could be a sign from Hephaestus. The dragon should want to help one of Hephaestus's kids. Beckendorf would want us to try."

"Never have I yet heard being related to any of this stuff has made it more friendly! With the exception of Tyson!" Magnus balked.

"Exactly, I think some of the other kids are due for some," Thalia shrugged.

I didn't like the idea. On the other hand, I didn't have any better suggestions. We were running out of time, and Silena looked like she was about to go into shock if we didn't do something soon.

Will had a very unpleasant bubbling feeling in the pit of his gut. Wondering at Silena's decisions, if she'd been considering calling Luke for help in some deluded idea. He'd gotten a first hand look at the kind of despair that had been on her face for days and had no wish to keep thinking on all this in the slightest, but it's not like he could boot her out of Percy's memories.

Beckendorf had said something about a sign from Hephaestus. Maybe it was time to find out.

"All right," I said. "Let's go find a headless dragon."

"Maybe if you don't attach his head back he'd be less scary?" Magnus sighed.

"I hope they name him Reid!" Alex grinned.

We searched forever, or maybe it just seemed that way, because the whole time, I was imagining Beckendorf in the Ant Hill, scared and paralysed, while a bunch of armoured critters scuttled around him, waiting for him to be tenderized.

"To bad you can't start a bucket brigade from the kitchens," Jason frowned, "dish soap and lava would probably clear this problem up easier."

"We'll call that plan B," Percy shivered, well aware they only had one chance at plan A for Beckendorf to live...and there was a really horrible feeling deep inside him that made him worry if he even did...

It wasn't hard to follow the ants' trail. They'd dragged the dragon's head through the forest, making a deep rut in the mud, and we dragged the head right back the way they'd come.

"Talk about going around in circles," Percy sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck, "this head's doing full 360's."

"And somehow still making more progress than you on your capture the flag game," Jason muttered, well aware that wasn't on anyone's radar right now, but a part of his mind that never stopped working regardless.

We must've gone five hundred meters* over 500 yards – and I was getting worried about the time – when Annabeth said, "Di immortales."

We'd come to the rim of a crater – like something had blasted a house-size hole in the forest floor. The sides were slippery and dotted with tree roots. Ant tracks led to the bottom, where a large metal mound glinted through the dirt. Wires stuck up from a bronze stump on one end.

"You just know that thing would have some crazy rumors about it if you didn't know what it was," Alex chuckled. "Zues's wifi hotspot, tree that used to house a magic tree house that went evil, flying fish spawn from there."

"I am convinced you are the child of whatever god of stories is out there," Thalia shook her head in pure endearment of her.

"And I love it!" She threw her arms wide and smacked Magnus in the face while the others got a mild laugh from her antics.

"The dragon's neck," I said. "You think the ants made this crater?"

"Ant's are great at excavating their own mounds, but how well do they dig up stuff?" Magnus agreed in surprise that sounded kind of deep in the earth for them to have just found.

"Annabeth would know," Percy frowned he had no clue what was really going on, as usual.

Annabeth shook her head. "Looks more like a meteor blast..."

"Though now I am absolutely over here wondering if Hepeahsuts's big sign was his recreation of the dinosaur event or something," Nico grumbled if he'd thrown a meteor to take this thing out and his kids were just uncovering the remains.

"Hephaestus," Silena said. "The god must've unearthed this. Hephaestus wanted us to find the dragon. He wanted Charlie to..." She choked up.

Jason winced, that didn't seem very in line with these gods he'd heard of. Heaphusts hadn't even flinched when told the camp might be overrun, but he wasn't going to argue the point with anyone right now.

"Come on," I said. "Let's reconnect this bad boy."

Getting the dragon's head to the bottom was easy. It tumbled right down the slope and hit the neck with a loud, metallic BONK!

"I wonder if he enjoyed the ride," Thalia chuckled.

"That had to have been better than getting dragged away from his body," Will nodded, while Percy shivered at the idea of this thing being awake while all that happened.

Reconnecting it was harder.

We had no tools and no experience.

Annabeth fiddled with the wires and cursed in Ancient Greek. "We need Beckendorf. He could do this in seconds."

Alex took a deep breath before saying, "The man who built it doesn't want it, the man who bought it doesn't need it, the man who needs it doesn't know it."

"Are you seriously invoking the freaking sphinx right now?" Percy groaned. "One monster at a time isn't enough?"

"Oh, I know!" Jason waved his hand.

"Poor timing Alex," Magnus agreed while Jason was still glaring at Alex with his hand raised.

"I just thought it particularly appropriate right now," Alex said with the whole hope it didn't actually come true. "And since when do you need permission to talk around here Jason?" She shot at him in exasperation.

"The answer's kind of morbid, just making sure I should," he finally lowered his hand with a shrug.

"No morbid jokes until after the person is rescued," Thalia said swiftly as Percy started looking a little gray around the edges again the longer this dragged on.

"Isn't your mom the goddess of inventors?" I asked.

Annabeth glared at me. "Yes, but this is different. I'm good with ideas. Not mechanics."

"There's an I in both of those words though, so I'm kind of surprised to hear that," Jason chuckled.

"Annabeth's never claimed to be a solo act," Magnus reminded with a hopeful smile. "Even from Percy's first quest she knew she needed someone to get her out of camp rather than trying to go it alone."

Percy grinned with delight at that nugget while Jason nodded his agreement in mild apology.

"If I was going to pick one person in the world to reattach my head," I said, "I'd pick you."

I just blurted it out – to give her confidence, I guess – but immediately I realized it sounded pretty stupid.

"Well at least you finally realize the stupid shit that comes out of your mouth," Thalia chuckled. "Progress."

"Will it stop him from doing it? No," Nico smirked.

"Stop me from doing what?" Will asked innocently.

"Stop encouraging him Nico! You did that on purpose!" Percy groaned in protest to every word of this. Nico was to busy snickering to even pretend otherwise, and it was so far removed from the depressed little kid Percy only had memories of he didn't have the heart to act on that strangling threat again.

"Awww..." Silena sniffled and wiped her eyes. "Percy, that is so sweet!"

"Was it?" Nico asked blankly. Well crud, he clearly had no idea how to flirt.

"Annabeth wasn't impressed, so it's anyone's guess," Percy sighed, a slight blush still on his cheeks.

Annabeth blushed. "Shut up, Silena. Hand me your dagger."

I was afraid Annabeth was going to stab me with it.

Causing very unfair laughter around the room while Percy hung his head. He already had no clue what was going on, did he need a live audience for it?

"Does she kiss you again?" Alex asked eagerly, leaning on the edge of her seat.

"Then we'd have to call her out on bad timing," Magnus shook his head. "Beckendorf's about to die, not him."

Percy was rubbing his lip with a mosh pit of butterflies in his stomach, he couldn't make himself speak or they'd all come out. It's not like he was opposed to the idea, though that was ten times more morbid than even Alex could probably ever be if it was some odd new tradition like holding his hand underground was...

Instead she used it as a screwdriver to open a panel in the dragon's neck. "Here goes nothing," she said.

And she started to splice together the celestial bronze wires.

It took a long time. Too long.

I figured capture the flag had to be over by now. I wondered how soon the other campers would realize we were missing and come looking for us. If Annabeth's calculations were correct (and they always were), Beckendorf probably had five or ten minutes left before the ants got him.

"I trust Percy's internal clock pretty accurately too," Thalia shivered for that poor guy, even knowing the other Huntresses would consider her a traitor for doing it. "He always gets to the microwave right before it goes off."

"The one thing I've never managed to explode, it was to vital to my life," Percy agreed.

Finally Annabeth stood up and exhaled. Her hands were scraped and muddy. Her fingernails were wrecked. She had a brown streak across her forehead where the dragon had decided to spit grease at her.

Percy's fingers curled tight around his camp necklace to try and hide the fact his heart skipped a beat. How was it possible the worse she looked the more he couldn't look away?

"All right," she said. "It's done, I think..."

"You think?" Silena asked.

"It has to be done," I said. "We're out of time. How do you, uh, start it?

Alex frowned and paused and sighed. She knew she shouldn't get offended at them calling the dragon an it, but she'd have preferred if they just kept referring to the creature as the dragon, or even used they, them pronouns. This was a machine though, and she didn't want to start picking fights about that kind of topic right now.

 Is there an ignition switch or something?"

"I really hope nobody left the key in their pocket, we don't have time to find out where the hotwire is," Nico frowned.

Annabeth pointed to its ruby eyes. "Those turn clockwise. I'm guessing we rotate them."

"Are we sure she doesn't have a manual shoved up her sleeve somewhere," Jason looked fascinated how she'd found that out from some wiring and was probably going to be picking up a new hobby soon...hopefully not specifically of the metal dragon variety.

"If somebody twisted my eyeballs, I'd wake up," I agreed.

"Good to know," Thalia nodded to Percy's eyeballs great concern. "My next course of action was to start cutting out teeth if you didn't soon."

"I wake at the drop of a hat," Percy tried to defend.

"When your life's in danger," she completely agreed while Percy looked pleadingly at the ceiling.

"What if it goes crazy on us?"

"Then... we're dead," Annabeth said.

"I always admire her confidence!" Will burst out laughing.

"Yeah, because you've never been on the receiving end of it," Nico muttered.

"Great," I said. "I'm psyched."

"Psyched as an ADHD kid in a filing cabinet," Thalia snickered.

Together we turned the ruby eyes of the dragon. Immediately they began to glow. Annabeth and I backed up so fast we fell over each other.

"Awww, the first thing it sees is what we all put together in the first five seconds too," Alex said with a posh wave of her hand. "So sweet of you guys not to leave him out!"

"You're lucky that dragon's probably color blind Alex, or you'd be his dessert," Percy rolled his eyes.

The dragon's mouth opened, as if it were testing its jaw. The head turned and looked at us. Steam poured from its ears and it tried to rise.

When it found it couldn't move, the dragon seemed confused. It cocked its head and regarded the dirt. Finally, it realized it was buried. The neck strained once, twice... and the centre of the crater erupted.

The dragon pulled itself awkwardly out of the ground, shaking clumps of mud from its body the way a dog might, splattering us from head to toe.

Percy had gotten some in his mouth and he spat nothing out in here in disgust. Silena had looked more like Mud Bath Barbie, and Annabeth seemed to have gone brunette there for a strange moment she was so caked down.

It was, by far, the least important thing to be happening in this memory, but struck Percy as strange all the same why he couldn't get the idea out of his head.

The automaton was so awesome, none of us could speak. I mean, sure it needed a trip through the car wash,

"Which Percy has ample practice in," Jason chuckled.

"I still might need a few test runs to make sure I get the settings right," Percy gave him an obvious look. "Are you volunteering?"

"Only if you promise no flesh eating horses or robot dragons are in there at the same time," he sighed because he knew he wasn't getting out of it now.

and there were a few loose wires sticking out here and there, but the dragon's body was amazing – like a high-tech tank with legs. Its sides were plated with bronze and gold scales, encrusted with gemstones. Its legs were the size of tree trunks and its feet had steel talons. It had no wings – most Greek dragons don't – but its tail was at least as long as its main body, which was the size of a school bus. The neck creaked and popped as it turned its head to the sky and blew a column of triumphant fire.

The longer the description dragged on the quieter Magnus's voice got, until he was sunk far enough back into his seat it looked like it was eating him and he was whispering.

Alex sighed and had no other clue how to get him out of this silly funk, it's not as if a dragon was going to appear in here. So she leaned very close to his ear, he didn't even notice as his eyes never left the page, and casually said, "boo."

Magnus startled, fell out of his chair still hugging the book to his chest, and then lay across Alex's feet for several moments glaring up at her before raising the book to hide her face and continuing to read in a normal volume like nothing had happened.

"Well..." I said in a small voice. "It still works."

"Thank you Percy!" Magnus jabbed at him, letting the book fall against his nose for a moment without care.

"Here to help man," Percy nodded, studying him in concern what they were supposed to do if Alex stepped on his face.

Unfortunately, it heard me. Those ruby eyes zeroed in on me, and it stuck its snout five centimetres* an inch from my face.

Magnus shivered from head to toe, probably causing a new crack in the floor where he lay. He was likely to curl up into the fetal position in moments, and Percy couldn't blame him as he gagged on the remembered smell of gasoline and tabasco filling his nose and the pitiless hunger in those ruby sockets.

Instinctively, I reached for my sword.

"Dragon, stop!" Silena yelled. I was amazed her voice still worked. She spoke with such command that the automaton turned its attention to her.

Silena swallowed nervously. "We've woken you to defend the camp. You remember? That is your job!"

The dragon tilted its head as if it were thinking. I figured Silena had about a fifty-fifty chance of getting blasted with fire.

"The other half is getting her head ripped off like a real Barbie," Thalia informed in case they'd missed that.

"Nah, she's got this," Will grinned. There was a lingering sadness to his smile nobody else understood, but he had full knowledge she could lead anyone into battle, even a dragon.

I was considering jumping on the thing's neck to distract it

"Percy!" Thalia smacked him upside the head. "Why, in the gods names, is that, your, first, thought?" She started smacking him repeatedly on the arm.

"Because I'm pretty sure it would work," Percy shrugged, watching in mild fascination as it seemed to hurt her hand more than he felt it the longer she kept going.

when Silena said, "Charles Beckendorf, a son of Hephaestus, is in trouble. The Myrmekes have taken him. He needs your help."

At the word Hephaestus the dragon's neck straightened. A shiver rippled through its metal body, throwing a new shower of mud clods all over us.

The dragon looked around as if trying to find an enemy.

"We have to show it," Annabeth said. "Come on, dragon! This way to the son of Hephaestus! Follow us!"

Just like that, she drew her sword, and the three of us climbed out of the pit.

"For Hephaestus!" Annabeth yelled, which was a nice touch. We charged through the woods. When I looked behind us, the bronze dragon was right on our tail, its red eyes glowing and steam coming out its nostrils.

It was a good incentive to keep running fast as we headed for the Ant Hill.

Magnus's voice was pitching in and out like bad reception now, ignoring the glitter of Alex's toenails in the corner of his eye easily enough as he still wasn't as convinced as Percy seemed to be that dragon probably wasn't so much as following them but chasing them.

When we got to the clearing, the dragon seemed to catch Beckendorf's scent. It barrelled ahead of us, and we had to jump out of its way to avoid getting flattened. It crashed through the trees, joints creaking, feet pounding craters into the ground.

It charged straight for the Ant Hill. At first, the Myrmekes didn't know what was happening. The dragon stepped on a few of them, smashing them to bug juice.

"Good dragon," Alex crooned.

Then their telepathic network seemed to light up, like: Big dragon. Bad!

"Somebody get me a magnifying glass!" She yelped.

"Alex, it was dark out when this was happening," Nico reminded.

"I can use the moonbeams, I'll get creative," she promised.

Nobody was really sure how that was going to start or end, and they were kind of scared to ask. Magnus, however, finally sat up and leaned against his seat now that at least the dragon's focus wasn't on Annabeth and Percy anymore.

All the ants in the clearing turned simultaneously and swarmed over the dragon. More ants poured out of the hill – hundreds of them. The dragon blew fire and sent a whole column of them into a panicked retreat. Who knew ants were flammable?

"Every psychopath I've ever met," Magnus scoffed.

"Guess you meet more interesting people than I do Magnus, and that's saying a lot," Percy said with a raised brow. The place had been lit up like a bonfire in seconds, how the rest of camp hadn't come running was an honest mystery.

But more kept coming.

"Inside, now!" Annabeth told us. "While they're focused on the dragon!"

Silena led the charge; it was the first time I'd ever followed a child of Aphrodite into battle.

A hiss of pain fell from Percy's lips this wouldn't be the last, but though he rubbed his temple he was almost smiling at the bad feeling too. It was kind of cool to realize in the moment this was Silena coming into her own, getting a chance to realize a memory was so awesome the first time doubled.

We ran past the ants, but they ignored us. For some reason they seemed to consider the dragon a bigger threat. Go figure.

"Their mistake," Jason scoffed.

"I'm not arguing the point," Percy rolled his eyes.

"Because you're an idiot," Thalia chuckled with nothing but affection.

We plunged into the nearest tunnel and I almost gagged from the stench. Nothing, I mean nothing, stinks worse than a giant ant lair. I could tell they let their food rot before eating it. Somebody seriously needed to teach them about refrigerators.

"Would Chiron and Mr. D be okay with them piggy backing off their electric bill though?" Nico smirked. "I already don't think they're holding up their share of the rent."

"It smelt worse than Smelly Gabe," Percy insisted. "I would donate- okay, I don't even get an allowance there, but if this is a recurring problem I'd flip the breaker switch or something!" He smiled at the others getting a laugh out of this while he fought the urge to gag. He was happy for them, truly, they only had to hear about this and not live it...though it only made him miss Annabeth more every word she'd be plugging her nose same as him.

Our journey inside was a blur of dark tunnels and mouldy rooms carpeted with old ant shells and pools of goo. Ants surged past us on their way to battle, but we just stepped aside and let them pass.

"To bad they're not all storming out to argue which is better, Antz or Bugs Life," Alex sighed.

"I'm sure they'll go back to their clubs and debats as soon as their home isn't under attack and the kiddos are full of goo," Nico said with her level of chipper, which was kind of starting to concern Percy. He hadn't sounded depressed in hours.

The faint bronze glow of my sword gave us light as we made our way deeper into the nest.

"Look!" Annabeth said.

I glanced into a side room, and my heart skipped a beat. Hanging from the ceiling were huge, gooey sacks – ant larvae, I guess – but that's not what got my attention. The cave floor was heaped with gold coins, gems and other treasures – helmets, swords, musical instruments, jewellery. They glowed the way magic items do.

"That's just one room," Annabeth said. "There are probably hundreds of nurseries down here, decorated with treasure."

"That's kind of cute," Magnus grudgingly admitted, all of his long, messy blonde hair still mostly on one side he was ignoring and reading through. "I wonder if they burst out and pick a favorite toy or something."

Alex resisted the urge to run her hand through the mess and straighten it out for him as she instead hummed in agreement.

"It's not important," Silena insisted. "We have to find Charlie!"

Another first: a child of Aphrodite uninterested in jewellery.

"I bet if it was cursed jewelry she'd at least hesitate," Jason said in mild defense.

"Nah, she'd find a way to work that curse with her outfit, it's their own magical gift," Percy sighed.

"Right up there with yours getting into trouble," Thalia shook her head.

We forged on. After six more metres* 20 feet, we entered a cavern that smelled so bad my nose shut down completely.

"I'm going to be sick," Percy promised, his stomach rolling at the memory alone.

"This is not class Mr. Jackson," Alex said in a snooty voice. "You were not excused!"

"Does anything get us out of your class Miss Fierro?" Will asked curiously.

She thought about it for a moment before shaking her head. "Nope, you will all sit and listen to my brilliance or so help me you will get homework!"

"You're not even reading," Magnus frowned up at her accusingly, giving her the excuse to swat his bangs into his face and watch him for a moment shake his long hair out to fix it.

"You're more evil than Mrs. Dodd's," Percy frowned, though his hand fell lax from his stomach at the distraction.

"I'm not the one forcing you to read this," she reminded with a touch of hurt, "and the homework is encouraged to be worked on together."

"Okay, just as evil as Chiron," Percy chuckled.

The remains of old meals were piled as high as sand dunes – bones, chunks of rancid meat, even old camp meals. I guess the ants had been raiding the camp's compost heap and stealing our leftovers. At the base of one of the heaps, struggling to pull himself upright, was Beckendorf. He looked awful, partly because his camouflage armour was now the colour of garbage.

"Damn, I don't even think Silena could find a way to match shoes with that," Jason heaved a tragic sigh.

"Hospital gown," Thalia said flatly.

"Charlie!" Silena ran to him and tried to help him up.

"Thank the gods," he said. "My – my legs are paralysed!"

"It'll wear off," Annabeth said. "But we have to get you out of here. Percy, take his other side."

Silena and I hoisted Beckendorf up, and the four of us started back through the tunnels. I could hear distant sounds of battle – metal creaking, fire roaring, hundreds of ants snapping and spitting.

"What's going on out there?" Beckendorf asked. His body tensed. "The dragon! You didn't – reactivate it?"

"Afraid so," I said. "Seemed like the only way."

"But you can't just turn on an automaton! You have to calibrate the motor, run a diagnostic... There's no telling what it'll do! We've got to get out there!"

"I'm now imagining him with seven kinds of wrenches having a fit over a monkey belt or something," Nico admitted.

"Think it's just called a tool belt Nico," Will offered. Nico smiled as he imagined Will pouring over car manuals to try and impress his dad, and then Will showing him a few.

As it turned out, we didn't need to go anywhere, because the dragon came to us. We were trying to remember which tunnel led to the exit when the entire hill exploded, showering us in dirt. Suddenly we were staring at open sky. The dragon was right above us, thrashing back and forth, smashing the Ant Hill to bits as it tried to shake off the Myrmekes crawling all over its body.

The sudden blast of air and light felt like a second rise out of the underworld. Percy remembered gaping up at that monstrosity, fire and smoke setting its golden face like the sun of a new day, sparks flying from every scale as it roared in pain. That dragon had saved their life, and he was once again just left wondering if Grover would want a hug from it or would consider that a first class meal.

"Come on!" I yelled. We dug ourselves out of the dirt and stumbled down the side of the hill, dragging Beckendorf with us.

Our friend the dragon was in trouble. The Myrmekes were biting at the joints of its armour, spitting acid all over it. The dragon stomped and snapped and blew flames, but it couldn't last much longer. Steam was rising from its bronze skin.

Even worse, a few of the ants turned towards us. I guess they didn't like us stealing their dinner. I slashed at one and lopped off its head. Annabeth stabbed another right between the feelers. As the celestial bronze blade pierced its shell, the whole ant disintegrated.

"Great, another thing to lug back," Alex huffed.

"We did not need a trophy of this event," Percy groaned.

"Slackers!" She sniffed.

"I – I think I can walk now," Beckendorf said, and immediately fell on his face when we let go of him.

"There's a right and wrong place for a pratt fall man," Jason said with a nervous laugh.

"Nobody ever said to Percy," Thalia finished for him.

"Charlie!" Silena helped him up and pulled him along while Annabeth and I cleared a path through the ants. Somehow we managed to reach the edge of the clearing without getting bitten or splashed, though one of my sneakers was smoking from acid.

"What is it with your bad luck and shoes?" Jason frowned.

"I was destined to be bigfoot in another life?" He shrugged.

Back in the clearing, the dragon stumbled. A great cloud of acid mist was roiling off its hide.

"We can't let it die!" Silena said.

"Awww," Alex grinned. "Don't ever let someone say I never agreed with a child of Aphrodite!"

"How I wish that would have been her mother's response," Thalia nodded along sternly. The goddess of love was probably up on Olympus somewhere watching and applauding at all the drama instead of actually swooping in to help, if she wasn't engrossed in a hollywood celebrity magazine first.

"It's too dangerous," Beckendorf said sadly. "Its wiring –"

"Charlie," Silena pleaded, "it saved your life! Please, for me."

Beckendorf hesitated. His face was still bright red from the ant spit, and he looked as if he were going to faint any minute, but he struggled to his feet. "Get ready to run," he told us. Then he gazed across the clearing and shouted, "DRAGON! Emergency defence, beta-ACTIVATE!"

The dragon turned towards the sound of his voice. It stopped struggling against the ants, and its eyes glowed. The air smelled of ozone, like before a thunderstorm.

Thalia gave a not-so-quite chuckle at the rare power she allowed to course through her. It was a heady feeling she wouldn't ordinarily enjoy sharing with a dragon for a moment, but this one had saved a camper's life.

ZZZZZAAAAAPPP!

Arcs of blue electricity shot from the dragon's skin, rippling up and down its body and connecting with the ants. Some of the ants exploded. Others smoked and blackened, their legs twitching. In a few seconds there were no more ants on the dragon. The ones that were still alive were in full retreat, scuttling back towards their ruined hill as fingers of electricity zapped them in the butt to prod them along.

Magnus snorted fantastically and threw his head back laughing.

"Are you done acting like the world is ending again?" Alex asked as she watched the nerves twitch around in his throat. He had a really strong jawline usually obscured but for this angle.

"For now," he agreed as he hoisted himself back into his usual seat.

The dragon bellowed in triumph, then it turned its glowing eyes towards us.

"Now," Beckendorf said, "we run."

This time we did not yell, "For Hephaestus!" We yelled, "Heeeeelp!"

Magnus immediately groaned again, eyeing the floor as if considering how much less he'd looked like a dragon sized snack from down there.

"Don't even think about it," Alex huffed as she grabbed the back of his shirt.

"I am being punished for a crime I did not commit!" He huffed.

"The two kind of sound the same," Will offered in a not at all helpful kind of voice. "Maybe the dragon just thinks they're charging off again to a wasps nest next."

"Will, that's worse," Magnus yelped. "You hear how that's worse, right?!"

Percy finally cleared his throat and reminded him to either get it over with or give it up, because, you know, he'd already lived through it.

The dragon pounded after us, spewing fire and zapping lightning bolts over our heads like it was having a great time.

Jason couldn't help a little snort of laughter he tried his hardest to pass off as a muffled sneeze. He couldn't help it, that dragon had been through it and sounded more like a puppy having fun without yet realizing his playmates weren't squealing with delight.

"How do you stop it?" Annabeth yelled.

Beckendorf, whose legs were now working fine (nothing like being chased by a huge monster to get your body back in order)

"There's a whole world of self-motiavting posters and workout videos missing out on this dragon marketing," Thalia nodded.

"One that the mist should keep them very far away from!" Percy frowned accusingly at her.

shook his head and gasped for breath. "You shouldn't have turned it on! It's unstable! After a few years, automatons go wild!"

"Would he have rather they left him for dead?" Nico asked conversationally.

"Not a hundred percent sure being rescued into a dragon chase is what I'd call great," Magnus reminded with exhaustion in every syllable.

"Good to know," I yelled. "But how do you turn it off?"

"Someone really needs to tell Hephaestus it's a design flaw not to be voice activated shut down with a secret password," Will would give them that.

"I'll do it," Percy said without hesitation, which was pretty much the worst person to be sent to do it and also the only one who would tell a god to do it.

Beckendorf looked around wildly. "There!"

Up ahead was an outcrop of rock, almost as tall as the trees. The woods were full of weird rock formations, but I'd never seen this one before. It was shaped like a giant skateboard ramp, slanted on one side, with a sheer drop on the other.

"You guys, run around to the base of the cliff," Beckendorf said. "Distract the dragon. Keep it occupied!"

"That, is the worst sentence, in the English language," Magnus looked pained he'd said those words together.

"Followed very closely by, look, I didn't want to be a half-blood," Percy actually nodded his agreement.

"What are you going to do?" Silena said.

"You'll see. Go!"

Beckendorf ducked behind a tree while I turned and yelled at the dragon, "Hey, lizard-lips! Your breath smells like gasoline!"

The dragon spewed black smoke out of its nostrils. It thundered towards me, shaking the ground.

"Maybe that's a compliment in dragon?" Jason asked bemusedly.

"You are way to calm about this man!" Magnus groaned.

"Percy's not freaking out," he reminded, throwing a thumb at him. "He just kind of looks annoyed at this, I'm betting because he lost his chance to win capture the flag more than this."

Percy smiled his automatic reaction was to agree with that...but it didn't erase the insistent strain on him through all of this. There was something he was forgetting about all of this, something about Beckendorf and Silena, but the circumstances didn't feel right. This did feel like just another day at camp, so it wasn't bothering him to much.

"Come on!" Annabeth grabbed my hand. We ran for the back of the cliff.

"So we can now put underground, and being chased by a dragon on that list," Thalia snickered.

"I, have a minor preference," Percy said, smiling like a dope and not like someone who was being threatened by a dragon. Magnus really felt alone that should be a bigger concern than it was.

The dragon followed.

"We have to hold it here," Annabeth said. The three of us readied our swords.

The dragon reached us and lurched to a stop. It tilted its head like it couldn't believe we'd be so foolish as to fight.

"No, no, like a baby unsure what to do next," Jason grinned in delight. "Think a puppy waiting to see if he gets treats for doing a good job."

"Jason, you are not adopting the electric murderous dragon," Will sighed.

"Aw, come on!" Jason frowned. "He sounds so cool, and I bet Beckendorf keeps him in great order."

"Mrs. O'Leary has a playmate her size," Nico couldn't help but chuckle along.

Alex whooped in delight and loudly seconded that, well hiding Will's wince and no actual answer.

Now it had caught us, there were so many different ways it could kill us it probably couldn't decide which to use.

"Well the fire's obviously his go to, but he probably used up all that on the ants," Magnus said with dripping disdain.

"Stomping you means he'd have to dig out Percy from between his toes, I don't know if they like to groom themselves as well as cats," Thalia nodded along.

"I bet his bite force is, the best, he might want to slice you up just for fun so you don't go down in one swallow," Alex said seriously.

"I am going to find a way to bury this dragon back where he came from," Percy frowned.

"Aww," they all mock groaned like Sally had just threatened to take their new toy away before busting out laughing.

We scattered as its first blast of fire turned the ground where we'd been standing into a smoking pit of ashes.

"Still think this is cute Jason?" Magnus shot at him.

"Like a puppy who doesn't understand he shouldn't bite," he agreed with a sunny smile.

Then I saw Beckendorf above us – at the top of the cliff – and I understood what he was trying to do. He needed a clear shot. I had to keep the dragon's attention.

"Yaaaah!" I charged. I brought Riptide down on the dragon's foot and sliced off a talon.

Its head creaked as it looked down at me. It seemed more confused than angry, like, Why did you cut off my toe?

"Percy, that was just rude and a complete overreaction," Thalia couldn't help but play along with Jason's joke now.

"I got Mrs. O'Leary already trained," Percy said deadpan. "I'm sorry if I hurt the murder-happy dragon's feelings!" He finished in complete exasperation at the pair.

Then it opened its mouth, baring a hundred razor-sharp teeth.

"Percy!" Annabeth warned.

I stood my ground. "Just another second..."

"Percy!"

And just before the dragon struck, Beckendorf launched himself off the rocks and landed on the dragon's neck.

The dragon reared back and shot flames, trying to shake off Beckendorf, but he held on like a cowboy as the monster bucked around. I watched in fascination as he ripped open a panel at the base of the dragon's head and yanked a wire.

"I want that engraved on the cabin's door," Alex said in awe.

"That's, not a bad idea," Will agreed, his tone as light as usual, but a little more wistful than it should have been.

Instantly, the dragon froze. Its eyes went dim. Suddenly it was only the statue of a dragon, baring its teeth at the sky.

Beckendorf slid down the dragon's neck. He collapsed at its tail, exhausted and breathing heavily.

"Charlie!" Silena ran to him and gave him a big kiss on the cheek. "You did it!"

Annabeth came up to me and squeezed my shoulder. "Hey, Seaweed Brain, you okay?"

"Fine... I guess." I was thinking how close I'd come to being chopped into demigod hash in the dragon's mouth.

"You were great." Annabeth's smile was a lot nicer than that stupid dragon's.

"We all have our own idea of beauty," Jason snickered.

"I'm more surprised he's not thinking, monkey see monkey do?" Thalia rolled her eyes at where he kept touching his cheek as if Annabeth had abandoned him on a real reward.

"You, too," I said shakily. "So... what do we do with the automaton?"

Beckendorf wiped his forehead. Silena was still fussing over his cuts and bruises, and Beckendorf looked pretty distracted by the attention.

Percy huffed and grumbled for a moment he wouldn't know what that would feel like, since Annabeth had gone to studying the dragon like it was another Parthenon she'd need to know every detail of. At least he'd been a part of this story, he realized with a surprised smile. Now next time some idiot kid didn't know the story of the bronze dragon, Percy would get to enlighten them for once.

"We – uh – I don't know," he said. "Maybe we can fix it, get it to guard the camp, but that could take months."

"Worth trying," I said. I imagined having that bronze dragon in our fight against the Titan lord Kronos. His monsters would think twice about attacking camp if they had to face that thing. On the other hand, if the dragon decided to go berserk again and attack the campers – that would pretty much stink.

"Or we could host cowboy events to see who can wrangle it into submission again," Alex offered.

"Chiron will make you sleep in the strawberry fields if you suggest any such thing!" Percy tried to splutter and protest, but some part of him worried their activities director would go for it as some kind of communal practice.

"I can live with that," she grinned in delight, and Percy felt a smile tugging at his lips in admiration. Nothing scared Alex, not a threat even Mr. D could try to put against her would dampen her.

"Did you see all the treasure in the Ant Hill?" Beckendorf asked. "The magic weapons? The armour? That stuff could really help us."

"And the bracelets," Silena said. "And the necklaces."

"There it is!" Thalia nodded like a heavy weight of concern had been lifted away.

"What would you do with all your free time at Camp if you didn't have a feud with them?" Will snorted.

"Be very bored I'm sure, probably help Alex bring more fun into that place. You boys could use the practice," she grinned a smile worthy of a dragon that made all of them silently weep a bit.

I shuddered, remembering the smell of those tunnels. "I think that's an adventure for later. It would take an army of demigods even to get close to that treasure."

"Maybe," Beckendorf said. "But what a treasure..."

Silena studied the frozen dragon. "Charlie, that was the bravest thing I ever saw – you jumping on that dragon."

Beckendorf swallowed. "Um... yeah. So... will you go to the fireworks with me?"

Percy still vividly remembered the first time he'd gotten a compliment from Annabeth, after he'd run that bus with the furies off the road. It was a feeling of such power flowing through him, like he could do anything in that moment.

Sadly, Annabeth was rather stingy with her compliments, or he probably would have been able to defeat Kronos by now.

Silena's face lit up. "Of course, you big dummy! I thought you'd never ask!"

Will savored the laughter that blasted through the room with his eyes closed for several moments. It was probably the last laugh Silena and Beckendorf would ever get. Even Nico and Thalia probably didn't know in detail what was about to happen. They knew she was the traitor, but they probably didn't even know Beckendorf as more than just another name in a long list of people they'd lost in the war, they just weren't around camp enough to know as he did what was soon coming.

Beckendorf suddenly looked a whole lot better. "Well let's get back, then! I bet capture the flag is over."

I had to go barefoot, because the acid had eaten completely through my shoe. When I kicked it off I realized the goo had soaked into my sock and turned my foot red and raw. I leaned against Annabeth and she helped me limp through the woods.

The laughter increased ten-fold, Will's always somehow had the power to do that as Percy's tapered off with a flush of embarrassment. "It, it really hurt guys, have you ever walked on twigs barefoot, and um, there were rocks around-"

"Just stop Percy," Thalia was rubbing a stitch in her side, her eyes swimming with delighted tears.

"Yeah," he agreed with a shameless sigh. He'd been trying to find any excuse to pluck up the courage and ask her, having her to lean on so close just like always felt like a comfort rather than a hindrance.

Beckendorf and Silena walked ahead of us, holding hands, and we gave them some space.

Watching them, with my arm around Annabeth for support, I felt pretty uncomfortable. I silently cursed Beckendorf for being so brave, and I don't mean for facing the dragon. After three years, he'd finally got the courage to ask Silena Beauregard out. It wasn't fair.

"Some things never change," Jason said with a shake of his head that didn't suit him, he had that tone like one speaking twice his age again. "You'll be fifty and still stumbling over a compliment for her again."

Percy smiled at the dream he was painting, he found it hard to imagine he lived another birthday, let alone so many compliments later, but it was a nice idea.

"You know," Annabeth said as we struggled along, "it wasn't the bravest thing I've ever seen."

I blinked. Had she been reading my thoughts?

"Um... what do you mean?"

Annabeth gripped my wrist as we stumbled through a shallow creek. "You stood up to the dragon so Beckendorf would have his chance to jump – now that was brave."

Percy's mind froze...and then went more haywire than a dragons. Wait, she had been talking about him, right?! Not some other doofus who stood up to a dragon and cut its toe off? Did she want him to ask her out or was she just mocking him? Had she ever called Luke brave? What if he asked and she looked at him like he was covered in ant goo-

"Or pretty stupid."

"Percy, you're a brave guy," she said. "Just take the compliment. I swear, is it so hard?"

We locked eyes. Our faces were, like, centimetres apart. My chest felt a little funny, like my heart was trying to do jumping jacks.

"I really thought reading the rest would help him break out of, that," Magnus said, gesturing at his sagging face.

"Guys, I think we broke Percy," Alex announced grandly.

"It was bound to happen eventually," Thalia sighed, waving her hand in front of his face. "I half expected this back when she kissed him in the volcano."

"I'd just go ahead and finish man," Jason said without bothering to hide the laugh in his voice. He always was extra animated when a capture the flag game went on, and this seemed to have surpassed the others. "She'll call him an idiot here in a sec and things will go on like normal.

"So..." I said. "I guess Silena and Charlie are going to the fireworks together."

"I guess so," Annabeth agreed.

"Yeah," I said. "Um, about that –"

I don't know what I would've said, but just then, three of Annabeth's siblings from the Athena cabin burst out of the bushes with their swords drawn. When they saw us, they broke into grins.

"You're alive!" Jason mock cheered. "We already had the search parties assembled and everything with practice!"

Percy finally gave himself a little shake and looked around at him. "How terribly inconvenient of us, how about we skip back into the woods and play hide and seek next, oh wait, we just ruined that game!"

"The game probably wasn't ruined for everyone," Magnus offered, "I'm sure somebody had fun tonight." It just never seemed to be him.

Judging by the smile lingering on Percy's face though, they were pretty sure he was happy with his hour returned of seeing her covered in a new coat of mud, oil, and sweat as his arm stayed around her only in his mind.

"Annabeth!" one of them said. "Good job! Let's get these two to jail."

"Doesn't defeating a dragon and living through Myrmekes get him a get out of jail free card?" Magnus protested.

"I never even manage that in Monopoly," Percy sighed. She was as scary as Tyson, he usually went broke before he even got close to drawing his first card.

I stared at him. "The game's not over?"

"Damn," Nico said in surprise. "I really think Percy spaced out watching her a little to much, I thought much more time had dragged on too."

Magnus was at least laughing in surprised agreement again while Jason was looking at the book with a very calculating expression.

The Athena camper laughed. "Not yet... but soon. Now that we've captured you."

"Dude, come on," Beckendorf protested. "We got sidetracked. There was a dragon, and the whole Ant Hill was attacking us."

"Uh-huh," said another Athena guy, clearly unimpressed. "Annabeth, great job distracting them. Worked out perfectly. You want us to take them from here?"

Annabeth pulled away from me. I thought for sure she was going to give us a free walk back to the border, but she drew her dagger and pointed it at me with a smile.

"Nah," she said. "Silena and I can get this. Come on, prisoners. Move it."

I stared at her, stunned. "You planned this? You planned this whole thing just to keep us out of the game?"

"No way," Thalia sounded way to proud even if she shook her head. "No way she managed all of that."

Magnus didn't really think so either. As clever as she was, even she couldn't have put all that together.

"Percy, seriously, how could I have planned it? The dragon, the ants – you think I could've figured all that out ahead of time?"

"She did!" Jason gasped, causing a flare of jealousy in Percy at the look of admiration on his face. "She totally did! Oh my gosh, this girl is a genius!"

"Annabeth wouldn't put those two in danger like that," Magnus insisted.

"Not on purpose," he still had a wild grin in place, "but I'll bet you anything she somehow tracked down where that dragon was buried, unearthed it just enough to show the head, and then waited, hoping the ants would time it with her game."

"Her game?" Percy groaned. He thought Annabeth was a genius too, but she might believe someone as smart as Jason over him.

"That's a lot of if's," Magnus looked personally offended now if his cousin had decided to put a deranged dragon back into activation for a flag.

"It probably all didn't go according to plan," Jason was getting wound up now as he babbled excitedly. "I bet she planned on Percy and Beckendorf seeing this by telling them which direction to go and hoping Beckendorf would spend his time fawning over the dragon and forget about the game, not go charging the ants!"

"How on earth did she excavate a whole crater and find that thing and I didn't even notice?!" Percy demanded.

"Maybe she got Tyson and the forest dryads to help before he left," Jason shrugged, "maybe she-"

"Guys!" Thalia finally interrupted with a bright smile as Percy was clearly winding up to argue back. "One of these days, we're going to get out of here and you can interrogate Annabeth all day."

Jason still had a smug, 'I'm right,' look on his face while Magnus and Percy exchanged, 'I hate every minute of this' expressions, but Magnus was almost done with one more of these, and that was enticing enough for now.

It didn't seem likely, but this was Annabeth. There was no telling with her. Then she exchanged glances with Silena, and I could tell they were trying not to laugh.

"Yeah, I'm on Jason's side," Alex grinned along. The plan had probably gone to hell, but those two badasses had brought it back and still come out on top.

"Well don't look at me," Will reminded as Nico was watching him as if waiting to see if he was holding out. "I was on Percy's team! They weren't going to be sharing that kind of info with the enemy!"

"You – you little –" I started to say, but I couldn't think of a name strong enough to call her.

"Owl breath," Alex offered.

"Traitor," Magnus grumbled, she was the cause of this heart attack.

"Genius!" Jason crowed.

Thalia couldn't stop laughing at all of them, she had a pretty good idea Percy wasn't going to be the only one tackling Annabeth when they met now.

I protested all the way to the jail, and so did Beckendorf. It was totally unfair to be treated like prisoners after all we'd been through.

But Annabeth just smiled and put us in jail. As she was heading back to the front line, she turned and winked. "See you at the fireworks?"

Kronos might as well have appeared and trapped him in a time bubble. Percy froze with whatever expression was on his face. Had she just asked him out?! Like on a date!? The fireworks were on a beach, where they might just stumble into the ocean and, and... he sighed as the rest of the night's events swam easily to mind now. Still a little foggy around the edges, but with clarity that he was trying to connect two events that were not having it. The fireworks had been a spectacular show, he'd watched every color of the rainbow flash across her face that night and heard her laugh at the amazing designs their fellow campers created. She had gone down to the ocean and rinsed herself off, but there had still been mud creased into her skin and a streak of oil in her hair that nearly covered up her gray bangs.

She had been happy, on this night, but when Connor and Travis went racing past yelling in delight and throwing popcorn and hotdogs around from a stand no one seemed sure where it had come from, and Chiron announced how good it felt to have so many here on this night as he held a moment of silence for those they lost, Annabeth had bowed her head and clutched the beads on her necklace Percy had never been a part of. She wasn't there yet, with him or Luke.

She didn't even wait for my answer before darting off into the woods.

I looked at Beckendorf. "Did she just... ask me out?"

He shrugged, completely disgusted. "Who knows with girls? Give me a haywire dragon any day."

So we sat together and waited while the girls won the game.

Percy laughed along with everyone else. There was a relief in it, the tension in the room always just under the surface at being locked in here managed to vanish for just that moment that they knew they couldn't hang on to. Percy's life was hectic and chaotic, sometimes it felt like his closest friends made that worse rather than better, but it was his life being shared with them, and he wouldn't have it any other way...otherwise he might not ever find out how he got down here.

PJOPJOPJOPJO

Annabeth absolutely planned this and you cannot convince me or Jason otherwise.

Though I don't think she meant for Beckendorf to get captured. Most likely she expected Percy and him to try and find the dragon's body and for Beckendorf to fix it and wake it up while they followed invisibly to keep an eye on them and all that would have taken up time until the game was won. Annabeth only stepped in when she realized Beckendorf split off, but I don't think she saw or heard where he split off to.

*Not a goofy name I made up by the way, but a real animal. Go look them up, they're adorable!

[rollinouttahere-writes]

Lizard: *who asked Nami if they could stop by a certain island because they have good booze*

Nami: *agreed but made sure that Lizard knew that drinking for her wasn't allowed*

Lizard: *as soon as they land takes Doll to a bar where a drunk woman is whos crying and holding a baby blanket*

Doll: *confused* Lizard what are we doing here?

Lizard: *helps the woman sober up and cleans her up* Doll meet your mother.

Doll: *shocked* But my dad said that...

Lizard: It was all lies. Well apart from the part where hes your dad. This is your mother and he stole you from her years ago.

K: *starting to understand and recognizes Doll and runs over and hugs her* MY BABY. OH MY BABY GIRL. LOOK AT YOU YOU'RE ALL GROWN UP.

Doll: *crying* Hi Mom

"Nami said we weren't allowed to drink, why are we here?" Doll shifted uncomfortably behind Lizard while anxiously picking at her sleeves.

Lizard simply continued to pull her along and stopped at a door at the back of the distillery they were at. She tried to open it, but the knob only rattled in place.

"Unlock this," the order came out shockingly casually.

Doll bristled immediately, "What? No! I'm not breaking into this place, what is wrong with you?!"

"It'll be fine, I know the woman who runs this place, she won't mind. Now get to it, this is important," Lizard leaned against the wall while staring at Doll expectantly.

As much as she wanted to argue, Lizard's stare was impossible for her to argue against. She huffed and grumbled a bit, but ultimately conceded to the demand and dug out her lock picking kit. "I can't believe you're making me do this. How do you even know this person?"

"This was one of the islands we hid out on for a while," the other people in the 'we' being the members of CP9. "We were getting something to eat at a tavern down the road and I got to talking to Kailani because she looked so sad and lonely drinking by herself. I want you to meet her."

Just barely resting a finger on the tension wrench she shoved into the lock, Doll began gently gliding her rake tool in and out of the keyhole. The lock seemed awfully cheap, she'll easily have it unlocked in under a minute.

"Why do you want me to meet her?" Granted, it was always nice to make new friends, but the approach Lizard was taking was bizarre to say the least.

"You'll see, just trust me."

The wrench fell limp, signaling that the door was now unlocked. Doll barely had the chance to stand up straight before Lizard threw open the door and yanked Doll in with her. The door quietly clicked shut behind them.

The strong, but sweet, scent of alcohol assaulted Doll's senses. Being around booze was hardly a first for her, but the potency of it in here was staggering. If they stayed long enough, she's sure she would become intoxicated without ever having ingested a drop.

Strangely enough, it was weirdly familiar. The smell made something in the back of her mind tingle, though she couldn't place how exactly she recognized it or where from.

"There she is," Lizard continued dragging Doll around like, well, a doll. "Hey, Kailani!"

An older woman was standing next to a large pot simmering a dark, thick liquid. She had been carefully skimming foam from the top of it when Lizard called out to her. She startled and almost dropped her sieve into the pot.

"Who the hell are you two?!" Kailani's eyes flicker to Doll and she openly sneers at her, "Get out! I don't want any damn kids back here!" Her eyes were glassy, and it wasn't hard to guess why, especially after she took a swig from the bottle in her other hand.

"C'mon, you know me. I'm Lizard. We talked a few times after meeting at the tavern about a year ago, remember?" Lizard's tone was calm, unbothered by the harsh outburst from Kailani.

Kailani's face scrunched up in thought and she took another drink as she mulled over what Lizard said. After a somewhat lengthy pause, recognition flashed in her eyes, "Lizard... Right, I remember you. Such a strange name." Another sip. "Why are you here again? And why did you break into my store? With that... girl, no less."

For reasons Doll couldn't figure out, Kailani kept glowering at her. Specifically her hair, oddly enough.

"I wanted you to meet my friend." Lizard gently pushed Doll in front of her, "Kailani, this is Doll. Doll, Kailani.

Both of them shared a look of confusion as to why Lizard felt the need to introduce them. Doll muttered out a small 'hello', but the nicety wasn't returned.

"I have work to do, if you're done then please leave," Kailani turned her back to them and went back to monitoring the simmering pot. Unfortunately, she wasn't watching where her hand was going and yelped as she accidentally burned her hand on the cauldron.

The bottle she'd been holding before fell to the floor and shattered on impact. Glass shards scattered everywhere, as did what little rum had been left. A slew of curses shot out of her as she cradled the burnt hand to her chest.

Lizard rushed forward, gently herding her away from the pot and to a nearby chair. She snatched the sieve from Kailani, "I'll go skim it for you, just rest here while Doll fetches some water."

Despite not necessarily getting along with the woman, Doll was quick to do as told and brought some cold water for Kailani to soak her hand in.

An awkward silence hung in the air as Kailani aggressively avoided making eye contact. Doll found herself examining the aging woman's face. Her expression was stern, hardened from what Doll could only assume was years of hardship. No one who's had an easy life could look so mean while having such downcast and sad eyes.

It's understandable why Lizard felt the need to approach her the first time. Even Doll found herself wanting to give the woman a hug.

The back door they'd sneaked in through opened and closed, making Doll tense up and whip around to see who else was in here with them now.

"Kailani, you left the door unlocked. Again. One of these days someone is going to steal you poor." Another woman rounded the corner, she looked to be similar in age to Kailani, but perhaps a little younger. She stopped dead in her tracks when she spotted Doll and Lizard, "Who are you?!"

While Doll was panicking and stammering for a response, Lizard answered casually, "We're friends with Kailani and just stopped by to say hi."

"Really now?" She looked to Kailani for confirmation.

"I know her," Kailani nodded at Lizard. "We met last year and talked a little. No clue who this girl is. What are you doing here, Malana?"

"Hardly sounds like you're friends to me," Malana sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, "And I'm here because it's noon, and I brought some food so that you don't drink your lunch again."

She strode over to where Kailani was seated and leveled Doll with a hard stare. At first, her expression was annoyed more than anything, but then her brows furrowed. Malana dropped the food onto a table next to her and grabbed Doll by the chin while looking her over. Doll tried to pull away, but her grip was strong.

"How old are you?" Malana's voice was so low that Doll could just barely make out what she said.

"Um, I-I'm fifteen?" The intensity of her gaze was downright intimidating.

Her eyes widened at this answer, "What's your name?" Both of her hands dropped and tightly gripped Doll's shoulders.

Before Doll could answer, Lizard did so for her. "She goes by Doll now, but her real name is (Y/N)."

Kailani's head snapped up so fast that it could be heard cracking. For the first time, she fully looked Doll in the eye, her own were wide and wild. "(Y/N)?" The small water basin in her lap fell to the ground as she launched herself out of the chair and held onto Doll as if she would disappear if she didn't. Doll stumbled, but just barely managed to remain upright. Malana was speaking but she couldn't make out a word of it over Kailani's hysterical sobbing.

"(Y/N), my (Y/N), my baby!" She pulled back slightly and cradled Doll's face in her work-weathered hands, "I thought I would never see you again!" Once again, Doll's face was squished against the woman's chest as she held onto her with all her strength.

Doll had no idea what was happening. She managed to twist her head enough to look for Lizard in hopes that she might have an answer.

Lizard was standing only a few steps away, "This is your mother. She never died, Shanks kidnapped you in the middle of the night while she slept."

Her once tense posture fell limp as Doll went into what she could only describe as being a state of shock. "What?"

"He lied to you, he's been lying to you for years."

Malana had joined in on the hug, aggressively squeezing both Doll and Kailani, "I can't believe you're here!" She let go and rushed for the door while scrubbing the tears off her face, "Stay put, I'll go get everyone else!"

As the door slammed behind her, two things were on Doll's mind. One, that she was going to savor every single second of this reunion, and two...

She was going to kill Shanks for what he's done.

[i3utterflyeffect]

The Pearl Problem

AVA & Rain World Fic

AtB: apparently pearls are not infinite! DJ: really? AtB: i mean, i'm running out. so surely not. DJ: beckons, you are probably the first iterator to discover this. congratulations on this accomplishment AtB: not my fault the problem is boring and art is fun lol AtB: it's alright though. i'm working on a solution. it probably won't be too hard DJ: you're totally gonna regret saying that AtB: shut up All That Beckons will regret this later on. - AO3 link (a second time)

"...I've never done an audio log before."

"...okay, uh. Log one."

"I am running out of pearls. I didn't know these were a limited resource! I wish the Ancients would have bothered to tell us that, but apparently they have to keep all the important things away from us. Thank you, Ancients. Very helpful. Included in that list is what pearls are made of, I guess. I've heard that there's tinted pearls with forbidden info on the whole taboo thing, not that I'm even interested in that... Um, so making artificial pearls isn't really an option! That is why I'm compressing this with audio; pearls can store a lot more audio than text."

"HOWEVER. I have heard from one of the groups that scavengers have been making artificial pearls from bones, and I think I have an idea. I have a genetic engineering station that's been collecting dust, and since a lot of groups have been distributing these 'messenger' blueprints, I can PROBABLY modify that to create a creature that'll just... give me bones. I'll have to modify it, probably, but I think I can do it. Can't be that hard to pick up, right? I probably have the knowledge on how to do that. They'd give us that, right?"

---

"Log two."

"They don't give us that knowledge. Ancients strike again."

"Anyway, I had to do several iterations-- hah. Iterations-- but, uh... I think I'm getting there. I have one that actually seems functional. Alive, at least? I had to stick super close to the blueprint, but I tried to add something to the genetic blueprint that will hopefully generate a spherical bone that will be easy to remove. Seems simple enough!"

"And Discordant Joy said I couldn't work one of these. Hah. Take that, DJ."

---

"Log three."

"Remember what I said last time?"

All That Beckons laughs.

"Yeah, no, I was completely wrong. I suck at this."

"Turns out, the creature I made was not structurally sound at all. Apparently all the calcium went into the pearl instead of the bones. Not what I intended at all! I tried to put the poor thing out of it's misery, but it was apparently not keen on the idea. It couldn't really put up much of a fight against me, of course-- I mean, what's a tiny organism like that going to do to an iterator? But I kind of admired it for going up against me like that. I played nice for a little bit, but it ended up escaping... I feel bad. That thing is not going to be able to survive out there, it's practically lizard bait... Maybe the void'll take pity on it. Who knows."

"Anyway, I need to start over. I think I need help figuring this out, anyway... I'll contact one of the larger groups; see if anyone with knowledge in genetics is willing to help me out."

[dunnswrld]

could you do the high maintenance girl for the rest of the cast? hopefully you know which post I mean! <3

Jackass Guys Dating a High Maintenance Girl 2!

a/n: A lot of people wanted a part two with this as we can see so here it is haha!

prompt: Title :)

warnings: Fem!reader, fluff, very light smut/implied smut

Chris

You two met when he was filming a party boy stunt

It was the only time he ever got embarrassed while filming something in public

Your short pink bubblegum dress and white heels had him drooling at the sight of you

When Jeff basically forced poor Chris to go up to you in only a spedo and bow tie you were giggling up a storm but Chris was blushing the whole time and couldn't really bring himself to dance in front of you

Jeff of course had you interviewed afterwards

"What did you think of party boy miss?"

"I didn't know if I should join him or kiss him, he was kinda cute."

Chris was quick to get your number after this

Chris is just a man who is built for a high maintenance girl

Like you're telling me he wouldn't want a super girly girl girlfriend??

He would love the heels, short dresses, and short tops

He is the kind of boyfriend who lets you wear whatever you please because he has two fists for a reason

and has used them before

He loves shopping with you too

His favorite is when he gets to pick out things for you

"Look Yn! A camo skirt that's the same print as my shorts!"

He loves matching for sure.

But he hates shoe shopping

He thinks it's pointless you have so many cause you wear them on your feet already so whats the point of having expensive shoes??

"I just don't get why these at $100 babe... they go on your feet..."

"But they'll match my outfits Chris!"

But either way you always end up taking your time even with the whining coming from Chris

He always has an arm around you

But if you go shopping without you one day he 100% makes you give him a fashion show when you get home

Speaking of homes... since Chris was living out of his car when you guys first started dating when you got past the 5 month mark you let him move in with you!

I think Chris was always so cautious when he first moved in and before he moved in

Like he was so scared he would break one of your super nice vases or dirty your white couch or maybe even spill something on your fuzzy pink blankets

But he slowly would relax realizing how much you dirty things, like spilling nail polish on your couch...

Omg Chris totally sets things up for you that you buy like shelves and stuff

Chris loves doing it cause you always shower him with love after

You call him your personal handy man and he loves it

I think you went on a Wildboyz trip with Chris to a nice vacation spot maybe like Costa Rica? Or Florida?

Either way you loved it and so did Chris

You got to dress up in explorer like clothing and probably felt really cool, Chris thought it was adorable

But you totally didn't do lizards. But Chris and Steve-o always found a way to get you near them

From Chris holding you and Steve-o shoving it in your face or Chris dropping one down your shirt

He had no problem grabbing the lizard

But when you came on set for Jackass two Jeff had a large head full of ideas for you which shocked quite a few people

You and Chris both got matching costumes each time you were on set and Chris got to dress up

Chris loved seeing you in a Bunny the Lifeguard outfit

So much so you guys probably had a quickie or two in a trailer...

This is random but I think you would dress up as party boy for Halloween?? Like a black swimsuit and bow tie?

Either way Chris would eat it up for breakfast, lunch, AND dinner.

He defiantly loves touching you (sexually or not)

He will always have an arm wrapped around you pulling you closer to him.

Oh he totally sneaks hands up your clothes

His kisses? Heavenly.

They are always so passionate and it's cause he cannot get enough of you!!!

Steve-o

You two met at one of his parties

He was really shocked when he saw such a pretty girl like you at his party

When he introduced himself you may have been a bit drunk and completely started babbling...

"Oh my god hi you're Steve-o from Jackass! Well duh this is your party- my friends friend said you were throwing one so I came I hope that's ok- I totally didn't think you'd come up to me! I was debating on coming up to you but I was like wayyy too scared to come up to you! I literally love you, you're like sooooo funny and cute! Wait where's Yf/n? Ugh they will totally freak when they see me talking to you!"

"Well hello to you too."

Steve-o thought it was cute though so he had no issue with giving you his number

and of course he took you out a couple days later

Steve-o with a high maintenance girl seems like a funny thought

Like have you SEEN the things this man does???

It's totally like that opposites attract thing and NONE of the Jackass guys can wrap their heads around the fact that Steve-o got you

"He threw up a fish into a fish bowl once and you tell me he is practically dating a playboy girl?!" -Bam maybe

"Opposites attract but I never thought people that opposite would." -Ryan most likely

"Hopefully Steve-o doesn't throw up on her heels!" - Johnny for sure

But the guys love you to pieces

When you come on set all the guys always are talking to you

Steve-o likes that his friends like you so much but this doesn't mean he doesn't get jealous sometimes..

He probably has gotten jealous of Chris the most since he is always naked and talking to you

Which only makes him stay close to you at all times on set

He also protects you on set, making sure you aren't the butt of any jokes or pranks

This has caused him to become the person being pranked from saving you

One time shoving you out of the way to avoid getting a bucket of dirt thrown on you by Bam

"Stevie! Are you ok?!"

"Just a little dirt never hurt me, better you than me."

Oh yeah you call him Stevie.

It embarrassed him at first but now he loves it

He calls you princess, but only because he thinks you're a real life princess

He also calls you babe, baby, or honey

He isn't really big on pda

He loves holding your hand though, but that's usually as far as it'll go

But when you two are alone he is almost glued to your hip

When your cooking he's right behind you with his arms wrapped around you, if your painting your nails his head is on your lap, or if your doing your makeup he is sitting near you watching closely

He looooves yours kisses too

Your sweet candy flavored chapstick is addicting to him

I also can't stress enough how he would get annoyed with how long it takes you to get ready sometimes

Like the four outfit changes you make cause you can't choose what you want him to wear might be one of his biggest pet peeves but he would never tell you that

He always sits on the end of your made bed watching you talk out loud in the mirror and he could never tell if you were talking to him or yourself

But he will always tell you how beautiful you look, and he always means it

I also feel like he doesn't like partying with you?

He just doesn't like you see him get sloppy

Speaking of sloppy the first time you went to his apartment you freaked out

"Steve it's sick in here!"

"Come on just a little mess never hurt."

"A little mess?!"

But opposites do attract when it comes to you two!

Ehren

You two met by accident when he was hanging out with Dave and a few others while snowboarding

You were working at the front desk of the hotel during that time and you had Ehren whipped the first time he saw you

This was very obvious to everyone on the trip

Ehren would always volunteer to go to the front desk if something was needed like tooth brushes or shampoo just so he could see you

But on the last day of their four day trip to the snow boarding resort Dave was the one to confess Ehren's own feelings for you

"My friend over there- the one with the short brown hair- thinks you're like really hot and wanted to know if he could get your number."

Ehren thought he was going to die of embarrassment as he tried hiding behind his other friends who came as they laughed

Poor boy was preparing for Dave to comeback laughing telling him how she rejected him

But when Dave came back he handed Ehren a sticky note and patted him on the back

Ehren's heart was probably pounding out of his chest as he opened the note only to find your name with a small heart next to it and your number

Ehren and a high maintenance girl is probably the best thing ever!?!

Like Ehren just adores you so much it's so cute

He gets super flustered when you give him affection

Which is all the time with you, you're always complimenting him and touching him

His favorite thing in the world is your kisses and hugs, they are just so comforting and great to him

COMPLIMENTS ALL THE TIME.

"You look really pretty in that top."

"You're so beautiful Yn."

"I'm such a lucky man to have such a pretty girlfriend."

Even though you two had been dating since before Jackass he still would get nervous around you

Like the first time he saw you in a pink frilly bra and matching pink underwear he died on the spot

Probably covered his eyes

"Sorry I didn't mean to look- I mean it's not that I don't wanna- unless I'm not supposed to- but I do-"

His favorite thing to do with you is watch movies at your place

He loves the cute matching pj sets you wear and how excited you get when you show him the snacks you made for the both of you

Not to mention half the time the movie night ends with you on his lap kissing him-

Ehren doesn't really like shopping but if it means he gets to spend time with you he will shop till you drop

I think he takes your bags and holds them for you :,)

But when you try things on he suddenly loves shopping and everything about it

He loves seeing you do little spins for him while in an outfit you picked out

But the first time the Jackass crew saw you on set they were probably shocked

"That's Ehren's girlfriend? The pink princess? You're totally fucking with me dude I don't believe you." - Ryan maybe

"The girl in the short pink skirt is Ehren's girl? Pft I'll believe it when I see it dude." - Steve-o probably

"Barbie is dating Mcghehey? Good for him she's a looker." - Possibly Johnny

But when they saw you sitting on his lap under a tent looking at your freshly done nails while showing Ehren they knew it was true

I feel like the guys wouldn't mess with Ehren when you were on set but I don't know why

You were rarely on camera unless it was tending to Ehren after he took a hard hit

But when the other guys got hurt you didn't even flinch unless it was Dave

"Kiss it better Yn?"

"Steve-o get your bloody hand the hell away from me! Do you not see me wearing white asshole?!"

Ehren would never say it but he loves when you snap at the guys when they try flirting with you, makes him all fuzzy inside

But all the guys love you and your bubbly personality (though you could be a mean girl when needed)

But yeah Ehren probably worships the ground you walk on, he just loves you a lot and treats you like the princess he thinks you are!

Dave

I think you met Dave because you were working at the office for Jackass

It was when the first movie came out so Jeff had to hire some new employees and you were one of them!

He was probably sitting in Jeff's office just hanging out until you walked in

You had a matching pink plaid skirt and mini jacket (like the ones in clueless if its hard to imagine) and under the jacket you had a tight white shirt on and pink heels that matched your skirt and jacket

You were there to give Jeff some papers but ended up sitting on his desk and chit-chatting with a rather nervous Dave

Jeff probably rolled his eyes into the back of his head from every time Dave tried flirting with you

"You're outfit- it looks great. On you. It looks great on you."

"Aw ya think? I totally struggled this morning cause I wanted to wear these heels but I couldn't find anything that matched but I remember I bought this like a month ago and it matched perfectly!"

When you leave Jeff's office Dave is following right behind you asking if you would like to hang out sometime

Dave loves dating a girl like you

He just always feels like he's in a movie cause you're like a living clueless character (that's less mean and a total sweetheart)

This means he won't mind going shopping with you

In fact I think he would enjoy it as much as you

Probably hands you things he think you would like and when you like them he defiantly blushes

He loves you in skirts so he probably is always handing you them

"But Dave we are going on a snowboarding trip, wouldn't I get cold?"

"Ok yes but hear me out-"

I have a feeling that even further into your guys relationship he isn't really big on pda like he would rather just hold your hand and maybe peck your cheek in public

But he loves when you two are alone and he can showing you with affection

I think when you compliment him he will get all flustered and start whispering "Stop it yn.."

But all the Jackass guys know you because they've seen you at the office

They often see you and Dave flirting with each other in the office

"Get a room!" - Bam 100%

The guys think you're a total sweetheart

Dave has stopped a lot of pranks from being pulled on you

"Come on guys leave her alone she's working."

"You guys can be as big of assholes as you want to me but don't be one to Yn. Seriously."

"I will walk of that door and never show my face to any of you guys again if you do that to her."

After that all the guys, even Johnny, gave up on the idea of pranking you

But if it's your lucky day and you spend your day off on set with the guys just know it's going to be everything but clean

You watched the "Hardware Store Crap" live from start to finish and you were grossed out the whole time.

Dave was defiantly embarrassed the guys had you come along during this stunt because it was when you first started dating and you two hadn't even kissed on the lips yet!

You thought it was a silly idea though, it fit with the Jackass idea

But when he had an accident in his pants you were probably right next to Lance gagging

"Oh my god that's the sickest thing I've ever seen!"

You ended up taking a cab back to the hotel with Johnny.

Dave couldn't apologize enough to you but you laughed every time he did, the memory was way funnier to look back on

But he would take you out to dinner to apologize and the night ended with Dave's face being covered in your blush-pink lipstick along with his lips being smeared with it

He defiantly held your pocket sized mirror in the car for you as you reapplied it to your lips and he just watched you like he was in some love trance

I think after a long day of shooting for the movie and getting hurt all he wants is to go to your rather sparkly and pink apartment and sit on your couch with his head between your legs as you watched tv :,)

He just loves you and all your pink girly things

[calliethetrekkie]

Star Trek TOS S01E07: Charlie X

Original Thoughts

"Charlie X, did have a nice take on how being The Nice Guy to a girl does NOT entitle you to a relationship, which since this was made in the 60’s is nice to see, and the ending did make me almost feel bad for the villain. Almost."

(Original Post)

Rewatch Thoughts

Not gonna lie, I hadn't really been looking forward to this one. I gave it a pretty middle rating (3.5/5) in the watchthrough... and for Heaven's sake, I couldn't remember why. I don't remember hating the episode, but I certainly couldn't remember much of anything worth liking, aside from Kirk telling Charlie that he's not entitled to a woman just because he likes them. I guess I was impressed to see a 60's show say that? IDK. I was thinking that I had been too generous, but did the rewatch change that?

The first thing that came to my mind when I first read the summary was an episode of The Twilight Zone titled It's A Good Life. I imagine that most have heard of it, but if you haven't, it's about a six-year-old kid with God-like powers who terrorizes his town into obeying him and always being happy. If you don't... well, it doesn't end well. Now mind you, Charlie is older and has a bit more of an excuse for why he acts like he does, but yeah... this is what happens when you let little Anthony Fremont reach adolescence. Speaking of The Twilight Zone, Shatner was actually the main character in the episode Nightmare at 20,000 Feet and BOY is that something... anyway, back on topic!

So like I said, I went in fully expecting to dislike it and give it a lower rating when I put it on the 10 scale over the 5 scale. But after watching it again? I think I realize why I gave it a generous rating. It's one of those episodes that is interesting to actually watch, but not one you actually think about until you go back to it. There is actually a lot of good material here, even a bit of continuity, and it's actually a bit more complex when you take later canon into account. So let's go ahead and break it down.

Let's start with Charlie Evans. He's a one-shot character, and actually characterized pretty well IMO. He's a seventeen-year-old who has been isolated from humans for most of his life and, as we find out, adopted by aliens who don't understand concepts like 'love'. He's awkward, temperamental, and doesn't understand social cues or customs, as you'd expect from a teenager and especially one who grew up as he did. It really sucks that they don't have a proper counselor in this episode, cause Charlie desperately needed one. That might have helped prevent his power trip... then again, with how unstable he was, he may not have gotten the help extensively enough to prevent it. Who knows?

It's easy to pity the kid at first. He doesn't seem bad, just very troubled and out of place. Even ignoring his circumstances, that's normal for a teenager. But of course, most teenagers don't have realty warping powers like he does. As such, the more the episode goes on, the more Charlie starts to lose it. He's confused and frustrated without any coping skills to help him, so he resorts to using his powers to get his way. Someone laughs at him? He makes them disappear. He's worried that the crew can hurt him? The phasers vanish. He doesn't like a Yeoman because he likes Rand? Now she's a lizard. Why? Because that's all he knows to do, so that's what he defaults to.

You pity him at first, but that can only go so far. He starts to go on a power trip that only gets worst when Rand rejects his 'gentle' advances. This coming after she tried several times to explain to him that she isn't interested nicely. Honestly, you ever think about how Rand's time on the Enterprise REALLY sucked? First there was The Enemy Within, an event that she outright references to Kirk when telling him that she may be driven to hurt Charlie if he doesn't stop. That's noticeably when Kirk starts to take her concerns a bit more seriously... not as much as he should have IMO considering that that last time was him, but it's still worth noting. As I was saying though, combined all that with later episodes like Miri and... yeah as much as it sucks her being dropped, if she left the Enterprise I do NOT blame her. She really deserved a LOT better, but that's a rant for another day.

After Rand stands her ground, even turning the intercom on so that she could have help and being forced to get physical, Charlie is so angry he makes her vanish. But of course it's her fault. He loved her, he was nice and gentle with her, but she still rejected him. Unlike The Enemy Within where they mishandled this subject horribly, this episode actually makes it clear that this is NOT okay. You're not entitled to someone just because you like them, and just being nice doesn't mean you are owed their love either. In fact, it's after he gets rid of Rand that Charlie becomes fully unstable and whatever sympathy you had for the kid goes right out the window even within the episode itself. For a 60's show that just had one of their worst treatments of a female character two episodes ago, this is very much welcome to see.

At the end when Charlie's about to kill Kirk however, the Thasian's return. That's when you feel at least a pinch of pity again. Whatever life with them was life, Charlie is terrified of it and wants to stay on the Enterprise. That's right, he resorts to begging the people he tormented, including Rand when she's restored, to help him. Kirk, being a good guy at the end of the day, even tries to reason to make that happen... but it does nothing. We saw how Charlie reacted, and chances are all it would take is one person making him upset in a human colony to cause who knows what to happen. You feel bad for the terrified teenager as he begs and pleads to not go back, but at the same time he brought all of it onto himself, so it's hard to feel anything more than just pity. Could he have been better if given the time and care? Maybe, but maybe not. I think that the utterly haunting ending where everyone is just stunned says it all.

Then we go to Kirk. This episode is a LOT more fun to look at if you've seen the films and know that Kirk actually does have a son that he's never seen, let alone been involved in raising. It's also hilarious how McCoy, who actually has a kid that as far as we know he was involved in raising up to a point, passes the job onto Kirk, half cause he was freaked out by Charlie and half probably because he plain doesn't want to do it. But for Kirk, that makes it all the more awkward, cause Heaven knows that he has no idea what he's doing. Like I said, he doesn't handle guiding Charlie particularly well, though he is at least trying. Like when he tries to give Charlie The Talk and is clearly dreading every single second of it, even telling him to talk to McCoy for the ugh... biological parts of it? That is underrated comedy at it's finest XD

Like I said, Kirk at least tries to help the kid. He himself didn't exactly have the most normal childhood, especially if you take Tarsus IV into account. He can probably understand Charlie's confusion and frustration, at least to an extent. Enough that he does legitimately try to help the kid. He tries to give him advice. He tries to teach him some self-defense... which probably wasn't the best route but still. He's perfectly affable to the kid until he starts harming his crew, and even then only throws any sense of reason out the window when Charlie electrocutes Uhura and forces Spock into talking gibberish. Hell at the end, when Charlie is practically begging for his life, he has every reason to just let the Thasians take him away without any fuss. But Kirk still tries to convince them to let him stay because of how terrified the kid is. It doesn't work and Kirk acquiesces in the end, but it still shows that despite everything, he was still willing to try and help what he saw as a very troubled teenager.

Kirk is the type of character who may not always know what he's doing, but he'll try nonetheless. He doesn't want to be any sort of father figure. He already has his plate filled enough as the captain and add that to the whole situation regarding his own son and Carol, it probably makes him uncomfortable. But since Charlie at first looks up to him, he sucks it up and tries to help, especially once Rand brings up her concerns. But really, as I said, what Charlie needed was a counselor. Ironically, McCoy may have been the most qualified in this scenario, but again he ain't having any of it XD But it's nice to see this side of Kirk. He's less of a Captain and more reluctant parent until Charlie endangers his crew and thus Captain Mode is activated. It just lets us see a bit more of an awkward yet genuine side to him that we haven't had to this point, and I appreciate it.

There's also a lot of nice little moments. Spock and McCoy acting like an old married couple, with Kirk utterly sick of it. Uhura and Spock's little concert. Seriously, I kind of like how Spock was a bit more expressive in the early episodes, wish we'd gotten more scenes like that. As I said, Kirk's utter dread and awkwardness giving Charlie The Talk is freakin' comedy gold. It's overall a good episode. IDK why I made myself dread it so much going in. It's not a top-tier episode by any means, and it isn't one that I would put on regularly. But overall, it's fine. It has good moments and has some awkwardness, but nothing to drag it down. I guess I just needed to look at it again to remember why I gave my initial rating, haha.

Original Rating: 3.5/5

Rewatch Rating: 6/10

[My TOS Reviews]

[TOS S1 Reviews]

[Previous Review] / [Next Review]

[fanfic-chan]

hiii :]

could number 19 (revenge) be something between kaeya and diluc??

i havent seen a kaeya one yet and i think this concept could fit them nicely

(also your blog is amazing😭😭🤌🤌)

Tickletober Day 19:

Ler!Diluc/Lee!Kaeya

"Kaeyaaaa!! You get back here right now you little-"

Kaeya couldn't hear the rest, to busy running from his livid brother as he made a break for the front door of the mansion, cackling like a gremlin and not paying any mind to the exasperated sighs and fond chuckling that came from some of the staff as they watched the two young teens chase eachother through the foyer and out into the courtyard.

The two boys might not be blood relatives, but even so, they had become practically inseparable from day one, and would often get up to plenty of trouble whenever they were together.

Their most recent shenanigan as of late, being that of a rather intense prank war that they'd started around two weeks prior. Which would explain why the young master Diluc was currently speeding by them, absolutely covered from head to toe in flour.

"Ha! Serves you right!" Kaeya shouted back at him as he continued to flee, "That's what you get for putting that lizard down my shirt during training yesterday you jerk!"

Kaeya couldn't help but shudder a little at the embarrassing memory. Father had said that watching him dance around like a drunk peacock while he was trying to get the scaly creature out had been one of the funniest things he'd ever witnessed. Kaeya, for his part, did not share this sentiment.

"Woah!" He yelped, crying out in surprise when his brother suddenly sped up and tackled him into the grass, using his superior physical strength to effortlessly pin him into the grass and then straddle him, despite his best efforts to shove him off and get away. Ugh, why did his brother have to choose a heavy claymore of all things as his weapon of choice? Why couldn't he have just picked a normal sword or something like a sane person?

"I'm.... I'm gonna kill you... You little... Brat..." Diluc declared through his heavy breathing, clearly out of breath after the chase, and Kaeya couldn't help but chuckle a bit smugly about his own lack of exhaustion. Diluc might have him beat when it came to brute strength, but when it came to stamina and overall agility, Kaeya would always come out on top.

"Oh? You think that's funny do you?" Diluc growled, and Kaeya actually did have the common sense enough to look a little nervous about the sudden devious smirk that sprouted onto the redhead's face, "Well then, allow me to give you something to really laugh about!"

"W-Wait what?! What are you- AHAHA?!! Wahahahait no!! Anything buhuhuhut thahahahahat!! Lemme gohohooo!!" Kaeya cried, squealing in panic when his brother suddenly started squeezing at his sides. Of all the ways he could have picked to get his revenge, why did it have to be tickling?!

"Nope, to late. You should've thought of that before you decided to dump a ton of flour over my head first thing in the morning. I just got dressed and now I'm already gonna have to get ready all over again!" Diluc complained, paying no heed to his brother's frantic babbles for mercy.

"Buhuhuhut it wahahas fuhuhunny!!" Kaeya retorted, unable to resist the opportunity to make fun of his brother even when at his mercy like this, and the small huff of offense he got in response made any impending consequences for his statement completely worth it.

"AHA!! NAHAHAhahahaha thehehere!! Wahahahaait!!"

Well, mostly worth it...

"Oh, not here you say?" Diluc taunts, a small smirk on his face as he continued to pinch at the other boy's hips, "What about here then? Or here? Or right here?"

Tummy, ribs, shoulders, sides, it was getting really hard now for Kaeya to keep up with his brother's movements, and perhaps a small part of him was even beginning to regret ticking him off in the first place, but he would sooner die than admit it.

Which he might just end up doing if he didn't surrender soon...

"Ahahaha!! Okay!! Okahahay I gihihihihihive!!" He cried, finally breaking not even a whole minute later, "You wihihihin!! Now Stahahahahahp!!"

And just like that, it was over. Kaeya groaned, letting his face flop into the grass in defeat as Diluc laughed at his theatrics before wordlessly heading back into the manor, presumably to go change out of his still flour-covered clothes.

Heh. Just wait until he found out that he hid all of his clean clothes on the roof...

[cloutchaserkineme]

fail, girl!

5:49 p.m. Friday, on a straw mat, with peel-off lipstick on

When we were in a journalism competition, a newspaper columnist came and held a small workshop for us small budding high school students. She was one of those old-Martial Law era types, the ones who got the grit and experience necessary to survive being a journalist here in the Philippines, a dragon with callused wings swanning into a place full of ickle baby lizards with fresh bits of slick membrane still clinging to our scaly lids.

She asked who among those of us competing for the copyreading category in the room wanted to become a journalist. I was the only one who tentatively raised a hand.

She was confused, and a bit disappointed that none of these little reptiles who managed to clear the first two rounds of the competitions wanted to pursue fact-checking and editing and newswriting in totality. I thought she was just reacting as an animal bred for her field- her life was words, and she couldn't fathom anyone else trying so hard to succeed in a field they weren't going to nurture and continue in any way.

At least, that's what I thought she thought then. Now I know she was probably just confused. No other deeper meaning to it.

Like I am right now. I have not been a law student in two to three weeks, just simply going to events and covering them and interviewing clients and transcribing quotes and attempting and failing to write the articles I need to write from them.

I feel impotent and stupid and just plain useless. Those kids who didn't raise their hands... they were smart. They were onto something. They knew that this wasn't a field to pursue if you wanted to be successful in the long term. These smart kids, achievers and top ten placers in their school with their latinate appellations a soft launch for their three-to-four letter profession markers in their certificates.

They were just there because the journalism competition held a lot of points in class and school rankings, not because asking people and getting answers and writing those down and spreading them out was fun and nice to do. They were smart, playing the game like that. I just played with whatever they gave me and never thought to do anything that required higher thinking skills with it.

They gave me a pencil, then a pen, pointed me to people and events and ideas- and I wrote. I didn't think anything beyond that.

Now I type, heavily and with such excess. I don't like what I type, and I think I hate typing...even writing this update is very tiring for me. I don't like it anymore. I don't like the updates getting from my bosses and coworkers, I don't like being jealous and envious of my coworkers having their ducks in their row and effortlessly slaying this industry I thought I was a good fit for. I don't like working for people who use money to do fucking shit in my place, I don't like platforming [type of company redacted for anonymity purposes] on our articles, and I fucking hate talking to people in a large crowd.

A few days ago I met a journalist who never asked questions (fully online desk reporter, though she worked in local print media like I did) and was more anxious than me and I felt a kinship with her and she was nice. Until I saw a friend of mine during the same event, and she congratulated me for getting into law school, and that my cousin from my father's side who failed the bar exam thrice but was married to an attorney he met in law school was surprised that I was still there and why I haven't quit the silly little news writing thing I was doing. And this journalist congratulated me for doing such a good job. I felt like a fraud, like I have inadvertently put her under the same illusion I somehow cast over everyone else- the spell of "oooh look at her she is a competent person who has her ducks in a row".

She has expectations of me that I don't know how to meet!

And I was stressed but I wasn't as stressed as my friends who were also working in offices with solid hours and good career prospects and great work-life-school balance and they had three midterm exams back-to-back.

You know what I did with those same hours? Nothing. Just daydreaming and sleeping thinking about fictional characters being loved and nothing else and I have put off so much. The gig I took, the articles I am three to four days late in passing, the fucking law school!

Killing myself isn't even going to cut it anymore, the phrase has been slicing over so many thoughts in my head for nine months now that the edge of it has dulled and it can't pierce through the brain fog right now.

I want to have my cake and eat it too, like the greedy Jupiter-Venus person that I am (but the Mercury-ruled detriment of both these planets is literally knowing that this isn't practical or realistic or rooted in explainable and measurable actions). So yeah... we go fucking on? I don't know. I don't have much faith in myself any more.

Do I learn how to say no? Or how to stop saying yes?

(30) 6:34 p.m.

[pbandjesse]

I feel kind of sad this evening. I don't know why. Nothing happened. I am just in my feelings. Probably just a continuation from my feelings yesterday.

I slept a little better. I had intense dreams again. I woke up way before my alarm and scrolled on my phone for a minute before sleeping another hour. I didn't have to be at work until a little later because I would be staying later. So I woke up at 730. The luxury of it all.

When I got up James was there. And I would get washed and dressed and felt off. But I was fine. Just a little uncomfy.

I realized I didn't want to lead the ground element actives so I asked in the group chat if I could switch and that's when I learned our morning group canceled super last minute. Ah alrighty. No rush then.

I had a nice drive to camp. And would sh e my breakfast. And got to work on finishing up the bear pins I had been working on. Sarah and Elizabeth would come in. And once I was done my bears I would drive the gator to the lodge to try hanging the curtains we got. But they weren't the right size. Boo.

Heather would come over to the lodge and we came up with a little plan for putting the basement rooms back together. Sarah and Manny would join us soon and we would all work together to try and put it back to a presentable state. I was taking charge a bit and directing what needed to be done and it was a little much. Because I didn't have all of the answers. But I think we made the spaces a little better. The art needs to be hung still. But it looks better then it did.

I would drive Manny up to the barn to help out with maiden choice and the horses. We couldn't find Heather for a minute so I went over to the feild and found her. She hurt her back so I took one of the horses to lead and filled her in on what we finished. And once we found Manny I passed Stormy the pony off to him and drove the gator to the hacienda to set up for the group.

While I was putting chairs down the caterers for the overnight field trip came and the guy was really frustrated about thinking he was going to be in the other building. And was just kind of snippy with me for no reason. And the. I found ants. And was trying to just be chill but also like. I am not in charge! Don't be mad at me! I have no power!

Sarah came to help. We finished getting the tables and chairs ready. We cleaned the tables off. And we would drive the gator together back to the office.

I had my lunch. I took a little drive to 711 to get a donut. I had some nice conversations with people in the world. And when I got back Elizabeth would ask if I could run an arts and crafts program this afternoon. Sure. So once I finished eating I would go set that up. I wanted to teach a bead project. So I got some bracelet stuff, some sewing stuff, and some bead critter stuff. And the actual program was so wildly easy because I only had 4 people. Two girl students and two adult lady teachers. And it was just really lovely. I made a few bead lizards and gave two of them to the students. And they were very excited to receive them. Which made me feel nice.

I didn't have anyone sign up for the second block. I cleaned up and checked it with Elizabeth and she said I could go home. Excellent. So even though I was prepared to work an extra hour today, I didn't have to and that was good.

I had a find drive home. I was so excited to go home. I ate the other half of my donut in the way home. And I got home at 5.

James was there!! They had gone on a bike ride to DC today. And we're working on stuff around the house. And our plan for the evening was pizza, salad, and wall paper.

James did most of the actual hanging of the wallpaper. But I did help!! And I think it looks so good. We need to order one more roll but what we got done looks so good. We have to finish some of the tops still. But that will come later. I am still very happy with it for now.

I had to unpack my suitcase to hang all my clothes for the trip because we got a fabric bug spray. So tomorrow I will spray those and let them dry for two hours like it said too. Hopefully it doesn't smell to weird. Things we will do to be safe.

I repacked the other side of my suitcase to to get all my socks and underwear and stuff sorted. I may reassess my backpack again because I'm not positive about the travel purse I'm bringing. But everything else seems good. I still need to download stuff to my tablet. To read and watch. I will probably work on that tomorrow too.

I am trying to feel better. I am going to go get cleaned up and get in bed. And hopefully tonight I can sleep easier. I hope you all have a good night tonight. And that tomorrow is fun. We have a very full field trip day. But I get to spend it down by the stream looking for creatures and I'm excited about that.

Sleep well everyone. Until tomorrow.

[dekupalace]

FREE CARD TO INFODUMP ABOUT ANY CHARACTER OR OC RAGH‼️‼️

RAAAUUGHH UM!!!!!!!!!!!

okay I've been thinking about nadine way too much lately tbh even though I made them just for family bonds. I never had a canon design for them and I still don't but you get some tumblr exclusive nadine lore are you ready here we go

nadine is juuuust older than siffrin by about a year, and their twin siblings were born just before the island went poof. nadine and their siblings were adopted by a couple that were from the island, though nadine has no idea they were adopted (you'd think they would considering the twins just magically appeared in the family one day but they uh. weren't exactly taught how that stuff works yet lol). the parents were kind, and loved nadine as if they were their own child. nadine was happy, and was more than excited to grow up with their new twin siblings!

(on that note, nadine and their twin siblings DO share a birth mother. she was a single mother that knew she couldn't support a family, let alone herself, so the nice couple down the street who could never seem to have children of their own...offered to take the kid [and soon to be kidS] in)

but after the parents went on their "business trip" (they were going to bring the rest of their family from the island to vaugarde), nadine was left to take care of two practical newborns. and considering the parents were both from and ON the island when it went poof, nadine can't remember their features or names...but knows they were supposed to have parents of some sort, otherwise why do they have siblings here to take care of? so...they blame their parents for leaving them behind, because clearly that was their intention, to just...leave them behind to fend for themselves. it changed how nadine views family as a whole for a long, long time.

nadine, nanetta, and noreis were then going from town to town for help, because how can an 11/12-year-old take care of two newborns on their own? they can't. that's when they found dormont and the house.

euphrasie was younger and a little dizzy from time to time (wonder why?) but she and her housemaidens were quick to take in the three and take care of them. and that's when nadine learned about craft, self-defense, how to take care of themselves along with their siblings...and they learned to love again.

with how often they took care of their twin siblings, nadine developed a love for working with and styling hair, and wanted to help people change and come out of their shells just like they did in the house. it took them some extra time in classes to REALLY know what they were doing, but...after a lot of work, and some encouragement from euphrasie, they learned how to craft their special hair dye! despite how creative their craft is...nadine is actually rock craft!

nanetta and noreis are just a little older than bonnie. nanetta (she/her, scissors) is very masc presenting and noreis (he/him, paper) is very fem presenting, but they'll often switch outfits and do each others hair or play with makeup. the only way to really tell them apart is their hair, since nanetta's is short and noreis's is very long. they like to coordinate their words to try and speak at the same time to mess with nadine and their friends, but all of the latter just finds it funny. nanetta is very quiet and well mannered, and likes to spend her time reading and drawing. while noreis likes to play in the mud and climb trees and catch bugs. noreis will often bring small critters or cool looking bugs to nadine and nadine genuinely loves it. noreis will bring shed lizard skin or broken wings/feathers/etc to nanetta and she'll help him press them for scrapbooks. nadine has a whole row in a bookshelf filled with the twins' works.

they live in a shared house with their friends at the edge of town (the one by the ocean, where their shop is!) and they all work together to help raise nanetta and noreis and...take care of each other, too. all of them have some shared conflicts with family, but they find family in each other instead. with change, they can help, they can protect, and they can love...

then one day, during a festival of change, nadine saw a traveler a bit overwhelmed from the noise and crowd... and that's where a new story began.

now then...........

it's YOUR TURN to infodump to ME!!!!!!!

[neonleonsmessymindpalace]

HOLA!

I’m back Hermano!

how have you been?

getting sleep?

eating food?

anything you need to talk about?

Sup, Emmie !

(Can I call you Emmie? The nickname randomly crossed my mind)

How have I been?

I've been fabulously avoiding my chores & I met a rad space lizard named Xino!

Have I gotten sleep?

Sleep hasn't gotten me yet! ;) It's a game of fun catch!

Have I eaten food?

I did! Lots of yummy pizza. And cupcakes. And I may or may not have borrowed myself a bag of Don Ton's favourite crackers..

Anything I need to talk about -

Mhm... How about these one-liners instead to avoid thinking about things:

The rotation of Earth really makes my day.

I threw a boomerang a couple years ago; I now live in constant fear.

I was wondering why the ball was getting bigger. Then it hit me.

Ooookay, since you asked so nicely, hermana, here's the Neon Leon tea:

I totally threw myself into overload yesterday. Yesterday I had so much energy that I couldn't sit down. It was physically impossible.

It was all joy & fun & dancing & singing around the lair - annoying everyone. Today, I woke up completely done & groggy. I don't know how to handle these hyper-days, but they're quite exhausting.

At least I stayed in bed all day watching Marvel, so that's great!

🤌🏾💙✨️

[purplekoop]

I think because of the specific ways I had internet access growing up and what I was dealing with during "traditional fandom baby time", I've felt kind of distant from the standard fandom experience, even for fandoms that I've followed the main official content for while it was ongoing. At most it was a one-way thing, where I could look into the fandom but not really be an active contributor.

I saw 2012 TMNT on the night of the premier and did my best to watch any episodes I could for a good few years after that, but looking up fanart at 2 AM on my phone when my parents couldn't see was the most I really saw people interacting with it further. I saw a Raph x Mona fankid and it blew my mind for... some reason. Look maybe just the image and notion of the tall space lizard lady being affectionate just did something to a young me. I'm not even sure I saw her debut episode before seeing the art so that was. Probably confusing.

There was also Gravity Falls, a show that I was really only able to follow thanks to wiki articles youtubers piecing together the clues that I didn't have the brainpower or ability to pause episodes to figure out myself. Shoot, shoutouts to Valiskibum, a channel I haven't checked on in years but is still a legend for posting about the theory that predicted *Ford.* I don't know if they came up with the theory on their own or if they just made a video sharing it to a wider platform, but in either case they get appreciation from me for making my dumb kid brain aware of it. And even other than that, I watched ANY news about the show LIKE A HAWK while it was still airing. I tried to follow the Cipher hunt but at that point I lost track, and any side media like books and comics that were released after that is news to me whenever it gets brought up now.

But like. Even *then* it feels like there was so much I missed. I've been following Hana Hyperfixates on YouTube lately (their tumblr url is escaping me), and it boggles me that even for a show I stayed caught up with constantly throughout its entire run, fully aware of its deeper mysteries, it still feels like I missed so much of the experience of being a fan of the show because I just. Wasn't in the fandom loop.

And those are just the shows I *did* follow as they were airing, that doesn't even scratch the stuff I wasn't into as it was happening.

I didn't see a full playthrough of *Undertale* until November of *2021* where I played it alongside my partner during thanksgiving break that year. And not making the same mistake twice, I had followed Deltarune soon after its spontaneous reveal, because I didn't have much better to do with my increased internet access. I played Chapter 2 as soon as it came out, so I was lost on everything from the lion waitress to "what's a NEO" until after the fact. Look, I just thought an Undertale was an annoying popular thing my friends with bad taste were into back in middle school. Now here I am, quantum egg on my face, panicking over the fact Papyrus has touched grass.

All this to say that now finally having this here tumblr starting at "only" the age of 20 (which, in the grand scheme of things, isn't as far off from 14 or 16 as people make it out to be, I'm basically just a teenager with more self awareness) is... interesting. In a nice way, I think.

It's this silly little fandom stuff like fics and OCs and RP and AUs that always felt so distant to me, but was basically the later childhood of my partner and many of my current friends. Stuff that they treat so naturally because they basically grew up on it, while I'm basically just now really getting a grasp on it myself.

It's stuff that I'm just now getting the platform for and familiarity with to really let myself indulge in. It's why I'm so happy with the Splatoon OCs, it's me finally getting to have that silly fun with this kind of stuff that it feels like I've been missing out on for a while.

I've had fan OCs before, all the way back in middle school, to the extent they made a full expansive crossover universe combining every series in Smash Bros into a unified cohesive canon (that's where my username comes from in fact, my sona for years was literally just a unique purple-shelled koopa). My friends were in on it and everything. But then after hitting high school, I eventually abandoned that universe, despite the expansive story I made with it. Partly because I felt like it was too convoluted with too many characters at that point, but also because I'd convinced myself it would be stupid to commit to a creative project that I can't make a profit out of. Essentially, I thought it was dumb to put so much energy into something if it wasn't "productive." This was a sentiment it took me way too long to shake.

So! Yeah! This is officially the "living my cringe" era! I'm going to make Splatoon characters with very canon-inaccurate proportions hold hands and give each other a kiss on the cheek! I'm gonna make a Deltarune AU that I know is probably gonna age like milk because the actual story isn't finished yet! I'm going to post my ideas for how I'd turn the TF2 mercs into Overwatch heroes! And NOBODY's gonna stop me!

...

Hey when did 5 AM get here.

[musekicker]

for the pairing ocs with Ghost prompts ! 👏

a villain oc for the sake of toxic yuri propagation

Solstice, a very big white scaled lizard princess. Has strong telekinesis. Her deal is attempting to seize the throne from her sister.

(( the royal lizard aliens living in a space station off their home world, use strong animals and beings to power their technology like batteries. ))

Solstice represses a lot of herself she finds immature. At her most aggressive, can behave/maintain an image like she’s completely composed. Definitely lies to imply she’s respectable.

This took awhile to finish but I did have fun writing it. And I hope I did Solstice justice and that you enjoy this.

Ghost woke to find herself in a bad situation. The fact that she was in a location that she did not know or even remember going to was worrying enough. Even if the setting was grand looking. A dining room it looked like. The floor a magnificent ivory color so shined that Ghost could see her still groggy reflection on the floor.

Her reflection showed the other trouble she was facing. She was seated in a chair placed at the very end of a long, wooden dining table. Both the chair and table were very fancy looking one as well. Both made of deep red wood. The chair had a burgundy colored plush back and seat. It would be lovely if not for the fact that her arms were bound to the arms of the chair.

That woke Ghost up more. Naturally her first thought was to try to use her weapons or any other tools that were a part of her. She found that no matter how hard she tried that nothing would work. More and more worrying.

With a fear starting to reach her, Ghost started to struggle. And struggled with her bonds as best as she could. But both chair and rope were made of stronger material then they looked. And she was still trapped when she heard a voice.

"You've woken up. Good. We have much to discuss."

Ghost jolted, startled. And she was amazed that she had been startled when she saw the owner of the voice.

A type of female lizard alien, bigger then Ghost. And a bright white color. It made Ghost think of someone who used too much tooth whitener. How she had missed this beings presence with how bright and big they were Ghost did not know. But there were there.

Her captor, at least Ghost was assuming this was her captor. They certainly didn't seem to be bothered to see someone bound to a chair in front of them.

The fact that this being towered over her was a bit more intimating then Ghost would had liked. More so considering she was bound and could not fight back if this being decided to try and harm her. Ghost assumed that immediate harm wasn't the plan considering she was alive currently. But she was aware of how fast that could change.

That did not stop Ghost from snapping out a threat.

"Okay. You have ten seconds to let me go or I promise that when I do get free I WILL make you some new holes." Ghost snapped.

To Ghost's annoyance the lizard laughed. A almost practiced and regal sounding one. Ghost could see herself really hating that laugh if she had to hear it much more.

"That's almost cute." the lizard said.

Ghost already hated this lizard. Ghost was about to reply with another threat when she heard doors opening. Servers had enter the room. At least Ghost assumed that's what they were. They were wheeling in dining carts with plates of food. The servers were also of the lizard type. And if they were bothered by the bigger lizard being having a captive they did not show it.

Food was placed onto the table. Why they had bothered to put food before Ghost when she couldn't use her hands was a mystery to her. It felt sort of twisted. Like this fancy dinner was all some farce to mask something nasty that was brewing. Making Ghost worry more.

The lizard had seated herself on the opposite end of the table. Looking still so calm about the situation. Before Ghost could say something the lizard spoke.

"It's nice that we finally meet face to face." the lizard said.

Now that was even more worrying. The suggestion that the lizard knew who she was. But Ghost had absolutely no idea who she was. Ghost made that latter point known.

"I don't even know who you are!" Ghost cried.

The lizard blinked. Clearly confused at the idea that Ghost did not know them.

"Truly? Oh dear. In that case I'll use this moment to educate you."

Her captor stood tall, a regal and elegant air to her pose. Once more feeling like a action that she did so often that it was practiced.

"I am princess Solstice." her captor told her.

There was a pause. Ghost felt like Solstice was looking for some sort of shock or awe.

"Never heard of you." Ghost said. "And honestly I don't care."

That seemed to bother her captor, Solstice frowning slightly. If Solstice had been expecting Ghost to be impressed to be in the presence of royalty she was just going to have to be disappointed.

"You will care soon enough." Solstice said as she sat back down.

To Ghost annoyance Solstice picked up her fork and ate a small portion of her food. As if this whole situation was only secondary to her eating.

"What is this about? I want to know why I'm currently tied to a chair you know." Ghost said.

Solstice finished her bite of food before answering Ghost.

"To the point I see." she said.

"Yeah, I am. But I think you might already know that." Ghost said.

Solstice smiled.

"You would be right about that. I suppose I can answer your question now. To get to the point, you are to be my wife." Solstice declared.

Ghost let out short, harsh laugh at that. A unusual response to being told such a disturbing thing.

"Oh please. I'm so out of your league." Ghost said.

That comment bothered Solstice. Ghost could tell from the slight narrowing of the eyes. That only made Ghost smirk in response.

Beyond that slight sign of annoyance though, Solstice didn't seem to take the bait to her temper any further. Instead she started to take another bite of her dish.

Ghost had to admit that the food that had been in front of her looked very good. Not that she would eat it even if she could. For all she knew it could be drugged.

"I don't understand why you would even want me as your wife. We've never even met." Ghost said.

"No. We have not. But I have seen videos of you in actions." Solstice explained.

Oh, like that wasn't creepy at all.

"Okay, you know that's creepy, right?" Ghost asked.

Solstice shrugged.

"I consider it keeping a eye on my possible options." Solstice said.

That sentence suggested that Solstice had been watching multiple beings. That thought made Ghost's fur crawl more.

"You sure know how to make a girl feel special." Ghost said.

Solstice ignored Ghost's comment.

"I decided that you would be a strong consort. And a queen one day once I do take the throne." Solstice said.

Ghost rolled her eyes.

"I'm not interested in your royalty drama." Ghost snapped. "And I'm also very much not interested in being your consort or anything else. You can't make me."

Ghost would had thought that her declaration would upset her captor. At the very least get a frown from her. Instead Solstice smiled. A cold, knowing one.

"I think I can. Because I have something that you care about." she said.

Ghost snorted in reply to this.

"Oh really? And what is it then huh? I think you're just bluffing." Ghost snapped.

Solstice smiled again. This time there was a edge of viciousness to it. Without even a word a holo screen sparked to life in the middle of the table. The sight and sound on that screen made Ghost's blood run cold.

It was Antauri.

He was secured in a much stronger looking set up. A sort of pod with various metal bands and cuffs keeping him in place. Ghost could only guess his powers and weapons had been turned off somehow too.

Ghost didn't know what this pod was or what it was doing to him. All she knew from his writhing and screams was that he was in pain.

"Stop! Stop hurting him!" Ghost cried.

She was struggling wildly in her bonds now. Enough that the chair started to tip over. Ghost braced for hitting the floor but that never happened. Her chair stopped falling mid air and carefully adjusted back to no longer falling. Ghost was confused until Solstice spoke up.

"Telekinesis is useful, isn't it?" Solstice said with a smug grin.

As if knowing that Ghost would not be able to focus on the conversation as long as Antauri was in pain, whatever the pod had been doing to Antauri stopped. Antauri finally stopped screaming. He barely moved though, recovering from what ever had been happening to him.

"What did you do to him?" Ghost asked, voice shaky.

"The quickest way to describe it was that he was being used as a battery." Solstice explained. "This whole ship is powered by beings that make good batteries. Your brother was very helpful in powering the kitchen."

Ghost stared in horror.

"You.. you horrible, twisted bit-" Ghost said, on the edge of a threat and swear filled rant.

"I can have dessert made." Solstice said coldly.

Ghost's mouth snapped closed at that.

"Now, I think you know what this show was. A threat to let you know what will happen to your brother if you do not agree to my plans." Solstice said.

Solstice stood, the holo screen now shutting off. She approached Ghost and for the first time touched Ghost. Gripping her chin in a possessive way.

"Well?" Solstice asked.

Ghost managed to tear her fearful gaze away from the screen and look towards Solstice. She didn't bother to hide her anger. Though she controlled her voice somehow.

"You have to agree to let him go." Ghost said firmly.

Solstice nodded ever so slightly, expecting this.

"I can't just let him go yet. Not until after we have a contract signed and the wedding happens. And of course the contract will also have the stipulation if he or anyone else try to take you away any point, that we will attack Shuggazoom."

Ghost felt like there was a cold pit in her stomach. It wasn't just her brother now that could suffer in this whole thing. Shuggazoom would be in danger if Ghost were to be rescued from this scenario. Ghost's fists clenched at how very thorough her captor was being.

"I also want it while you're keeping my brother that he isn't harmed in anyway, and treated well." Ghost said.

"Of course, anything else?" Solstice asked.

"And no using him as a living battery ever again." she added in firmly.

"Hmm, all that is fair enough." Solstice said. "Then you will agree to the marriage."

Ghost felt a lump in her throat, trying to form the word that he had to say. That she had no choice but to say.

"Yes." was all Ghost said. She was unable to force herself to say anything more.

Solstice smiled in a way that actually did seem genuine. Too bad it was at Ghost's clear misery.

"Wonderful." Solstice said. "I will have the contract drawn up immediately. And the moment you sign it we'll start talking wedding plans."

Ghost felt herself sag in her bonds. She was somewhat glad there she was seeing Antauri in a video screen and not in person where he could hear this conversation. Ghost knew her sibling well enough to know that he would tell her to not do this. That he would be okay.

And Ghost would had had to ignore those pleas.

Solstice had already sent for the one that was to draw up the contract. As Ghost sat there, Solstice fixed Ghost with a please smile once more.

"I already have some thoughts for your wedding dress."

Ghost did not reply.

[therhythmafterthesummer]

Hello my dearest rhythm, I am back with my (still messy) thoughts on FPS part 2 🥹

First of all, i had to reread it cuz the first time that i saw it was after a day (or days) of hectic training when i just wanted to shut off my brain but i saw that u updated and my whole world sTOPPED, i swear i held my breath and thought i was hallucinating the new part 😭 i’ve been waiting for it for so long and it’s definitely worth it 🥹😭

I might babble a lot about it so if anyone hasn’t read it, pls don’t read this cuz it will have spoilers 😭

I WAS NOT PREPARED TO EXPERIENCE THE CONFLICT IN HIS HEAD WHEN THE REVEAL HAPPENED 😭😭😭😭😭 literally, i was holding my breath,, i wanted to cry too 🥹 MY BABIES, why should the world make them meet like that 😭 they just wanted to love and be loved huhu i hate u (i love u so much pls i know it hurt u too). Knowing everything that was going on in his head, gosh, I’m so crushed. I want to hold him and tell him it’s okay because he didn’t know it was her 😭 akshjsdjjdskbsjsjx

“The fact that you wouldn’t take his life puzzled him. How could you not want him dead? After all that had transpired, why wouldn’t you?” ——BECAUSE I LOVE YOU GOD DAMMIT 😭🤕🥹 

“and if you’d been fine with it, he wanted to ask you to move in with him.” —nO WAIT STOP PLS,😭 i’m beyond wrecked and i haven’t even gone thru half of the story yet.

The flashback to their first date 🥺🥺🥺 i wanna scream. Knowing how both of their lives were filled with chaos, them being able to find peace and comfort with each other is just sooooo wholesome. WHICH HURTS EVEN MORE WHEN I REALIZE ITS JUST A FLASHBACK——brb gonna go sob in a corner. “If I tried to kiss you… would you let me?”——😭😭😭😭😭i love love love how they get so spontaneous and relaxed with each other. I love how you wrote about it between the lines of their stressfully calculated and rigid line of work 🥹

3 freakin’ months of no contact 😭 i wonder what happened to MC then. Although you did write a bit about her forfeiting her mission and also, technically, her spot in the Guild, I wonder what she was thinking after everything. Three months is a (kind of) long time, and I guess like Chris, she would’ve been wondering all of her what-if’s. Did she ever think about contacting him too? Did she ever considered his side of the story? idk i’m just hurting with them at this point.

—i’m gonna skip the reunion but just know that i screamed and held my breath and punched the wall and banged my head on the desk and— yeah

The honesty and vulnerability between them is just so pure. The way they both pined for normalcy with each other is just *chef’s kiss* 🤍 i love them so much, it hurts how much shit they went thru even before they met 🥺 i’m not gonna spoil much about the rest of the story but i just want you to know that i loooove how you wrote them. Their stories feel so real to me and their emotions were very well conveyed. I love how the story went and, to be honest, i don’t think i mind the ending being open as much as I initially thought. (tho i wouldn’t complain if ur brain lizard decides otherwise— 👀)

Aaaahck my babies 🤍🖤 thank you for publishing this new part!! I hope you have a really nice day :> hugs!!

~🍓

plssss this is so detailed kjfhsdjfshfdkijsjikd

that whole first scene recounting the reveal from his POV hurt me more than you can imagine. every time i sat down to write this story i felt like my heart was being squeezed (which was exactly what i was looking for sdjfhskdfh). Chris really just wanted to have that bit of peace he had with his girlfriend and it was ripped away from him ))):

as for what happened on the MC's side during those three months... i'm sure she almost called him several times, but, just like Chris, i don't think she was ready to face him. she had hurt him and tried to kill him (before she knew it was him, ofc), so she probably had to process all that, plus the fact that she couldn't finish her mission at all (which i'm sure was a whole different problem in itself). essentially, both her heart and her pride was hurt, and, honestly, if she hadn't heard those people talking about picking up her failed mission, i feel like she wouldn't have reached out at all (or at least not that "soon").

everything that happened at Chris' flat after they met again was very therapeutic to write for some reason??? idk, i feel like i was able to let a lot of feelings out writing this story in general, so i'm glad some of those feelings were conveyed well.

i really wanted to leave the ending a bit open so the reader could interpret what could happen next. they could run away together, one of them could retire, Chris could try to get the Kims to pardon her, or (for those that want a bit more angst) maybe you can even imagine she is deceiving him still, trying to fulfil her goal and that's why she came back... the possibilities are endless atp haha. all i know for sure is that i wanted to end this story with them together, so i did!

thank you for reading this, and for your thorough feedback. i'm glad you liked it💜💜💜